#i’ll keep working on matchups in the meantime

[the-travelling-witch]

here’s another poll+ a glimpse of what’s floating around my drafts bc wow i want to write all of this but where do i start >///<

[og-danny-dorito]

Hi, this is my description for my Eddie Munson matchup!

I’m bisexual and on the Autism spectrum with ADHD. I can get nervous really easily but I’m a fun person when I’m comfortable. Just play Dungeons & Dragons with me and I’ll start breaking out the dirty jokes. I’m pursuing becoming a Television and Cartoon Writer but currently applying to work at local D&D stores in the meantime (very on brand). I’m touch-starved and can often feel kinda distant from others, but that means I value the people in my life more than anything. I’m really protective and would rather have myself suffer than those I love. I love helping people more than anything. I also write a lot, draw and research literally anything that interests me - I’m actually really smart.

I have wild Eddie Munson hair that’s wavy and seems to defy gravity sometimes. I wear glasses, am very slender and am actually pretty androgynous-looking. I love making jokes and puns and am good at comforting people and giving advice. I’ve been called “wise beyond my years”, but I have no self preservation whatsoever. By that I mean that I once got mauled by a dog and my immediate reaction was excitement because the scars looked cool. High wisdom low intelligence stats. I’m hyperactive and most of my speech is infodumping, but I also need to take naps a lot. I'm a weird mix of anxiety and chaos tbh.

Thank you so so much, take care and drink lots of water!

ᴀ/ɴ: of course!! and thank you for being so patient with me, you've been very sweet and i appreciate it! i hope you like them, i kinda went ham on these im sorry 😭

ᴇᴅᴅɪᴇ ᴍᴜɴꜱᴏɴ ᴍᴀᴛᴄʜᴜᴘ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ

ᴛᴡ: explicit sexual content in the 'NSFW' section. minors do not interact.

ᴄᴡ: size kink, breeding,

ꜱꜰᴡ:

stop please i can see yall being so close within like 5 minutes of knowing each other LMAO

LIKE. i dont know yall seem like yall would just click really well?? it's partially because you're both neurodivergent so any common interest thoughts are just ricocheted off of one another to form an hour long conversation but also because he genuinely finds you interesting

he's kind of like,, felt alienated for a large portion of his life and feeling like someone really gets him is something he's never experienced before??

he doesn't really know how to handle it and he can't pinpoint his emotions, so you two just start of as really affectionate friends

im talking REALLY affectionate as in like,, people think you're dating type affectionate

it usually gets a sort of awkward response out of the both of you, usually leading to saying "oh we're not dating haha- NOT THAT I WOULDN'T WANT TO. not. in a weird way. wait-", which leaves him a blushing mess since he can't really from the words to explain it

he really likes you, and it takes him a minute to know that he like,, really likes you. everyone else noticed though

i mean how were they not supposed to?? he literally talks about you all the time, and if he's not talking about you he at least mentions you in passing

"oh yeah, tori said something about that" and "yeah i know a person who's into that cartoon!! he/she/they/etc is super into those art styles" and "i think he/she/they/etc would like that shirt." are just a few of the mentions of you throughout the day, and he doesn't even consciously notice that you're on his mind most of the time

HE MET YOU THROUGH DND i don't think i mentioned that before, but you were filling out for a friend who couldn't make it and as soon as yall got to talking it was downhill from there LMAO

he probably first noticed that you went "haha rock hard" while he was trying to describe a super important and possibly boobie trapped stone wall, unable to control the little snort that he let out despite his efforts to keep serious

but yeah yall got to talking and you just clicked and started hanging out more!!

OH he also does that thing where like,, a lot of your interests start rubbing off on him

like yall already share a lot of common interests and shit but some of the more specific things like books you've talked about and little things that you infodump about give him the Brain Worms and he starts to develop an interest for it too

its a good thing though!! one of his favorite past times is to sit on the couch tangled up in each other and either talk about your special interests or watch whatever show or movie one of you are interested in and point out cool trivia things about it :]

yall spend a lot of time together, barely being seen without each other by your side. eddie finds it easier to operate when there's someone he trusts and relates to who has his back, and having you around starts to feel kind of out of place once yall spend long enough together

he probably asks you out during a hangout session in his "spot" (its a clearing in the woods kind of next to his house where he's like, set up a place to sit and smoke), nervously suggesting that you know, hypothetically, if you two dated, like he wouldn't mind or anything-

you get the idea and agree without a second thought, surprised by your smoothness considering you could literally feel your stomach flipping all over the damn place for the rest of your hangout session

its alright though!! he kinda panics and calls over chrissy to help him cause he's paranoid about fucking up but she assures him it'll be fine and helps him set stuff up

when he calls, he doesn't give much detail besides "come to my house" and hangs up, but you still get dressed and all that and show up

you're greeting with a damn near euphoric scent as you step through the door, the house all cleaned up and the scent of your favorite candles wafting through the area in a muted but noticeably pleasant way

the living room has some stuff moved around so it can all centric around a table in the middle, which has two containers for takeout and candles set up in the middle to face the tv

he kind of panicked and didn't know what to do, so he settled for a nice home date!! it isn't that much unlike your usual hangouts, but it ends up devolving into uh,,, a little more than that. to put it simply

ɴꜱꜰᴡ:

after the two of you are done eating and watching tv, similarly tangled up in each other's arms, you can feel him shifting in place a little bit

despite the fact that you're on the verge of drifting off to sleep you turn to face him, surprised to see that vaguely familiar pink tint on his cheeks and ears

"Something wrong?", you ask, voice soft so as not to disturb the peace created between you. He jumps a little at it, blush darkening a small bit.

It looks like he's struggling to talk, jaw clenching as if he's embarrassed to admit what's on his mind. "It's just uh- you're pressing up against", he starts. And you watch as he clears his throat as he gestures down to your leg firmly pressed against his lap, and only then do you feel a blush of your own crawling up your neck, the heat seeming to travel all across your skin and down south.

You hesitate to move at first, still shocked with the fact that you had that sort of effect on him- and was it getting hot in here?

There's a muted "im sorry" as you slide your leg off of him, his jaw clenching in a way that chokes down a noise you surprisingly didn't fail to catch

its one of the few times that he's not entirely grateful for your observational skills, his eyes going downcast as he murmurs out an apology for being gross, something along the lines of "uh- sorry that was... weird" spoken just under his breath

you're quiet as you watch him, your own anxiety and muted arousal making you flit your eyes over to him for a split second

the next words that come out of your mouth almost don't sound like your own, your own voiced thoughts catching you off guard

"I don't mind."

such a simple phrase, but it's enough to make the both of you freeze in spot for a fraction of a second

it seems to happen before you even process it, his mouth on yours and the entanglement of limbs unravelling only to wrap up in one another in a chaotic mess of teeth against flesh and eager hands working to undo one another's clothes

that need, that pent up yearning, all of your want bursting forth to create a messy albeit much needed rough fuck after a long time of keeping your desires to yourselves

eddie is a lot softer than one would expect considering his reputation, but the size difference between you is still something he makes a point to emphasize

his hands press down gently but firmly on your wrists so he can explore the soft expanse of your chest, your body on full display for him as he lets out an appreciative sigh

he makes it an effort to put your needs before his own by properly prepping you, bringing you just on edge more than once before letting up and giving you what you want

i headcanon that he’s very attentive as a partner too, and doesn’t skimp out when it comes to your requests. if anything, he views it as a challenge

but the fact that you like to service him as well is something he’s 100% for!! he doesn’t really know what to do considering he’s been on the giving end of the service so many times before but he appreciates gentle guidance on what to do with himself it also kind of turns him on. anyway.

HE DOWS HAVE A SIZE KINK THOUGH. he seems pretty vanilla but he has the biggest size kink known 2 man and i stand by that

also likes name calling like "gorgeous" and "pretty baby" when he's praising you

does a LOT of praising. like a lot. he cant seriously degrade past light teasing but by god will he tell you how beautiful you are when you take him in so smoothly

is a little stronger than you too, so he moves you around a lot. he warns you beforehand but e very once and a while you remember that he could quite literally throw you if he wanted to

BUT ANYWAY overall he's v sweet and v adventurous but down to his roots he's more along the 'soft and sweet' side even though he's a big fan of quickies :P

[ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛɪɴɢ! ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴅ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀɴ ʜᴄ ʟɪꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ, ꜰᴇᴇʟ ꜰʀᴇᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱʜᴏᴏᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴀɴ ᴀꜱᴋ! ]

[spookyhalloweennights]

The Patterns of You (Artaruk: SFW)

First place fic for @featherednutcase featuring a minotaur doctor! I hope you love it! <3 If you like my work and want to read more, check out my Masterlist! As always, requests and matchups are open!

You had just moved into your own house, excited to have finally been out on your own in the world. The job you had snagged provided you with enough income to live comfortably, and the city that you were in was practically perfect. As your friends would say to you, you had everything going right and it seemed as though nothing could tear you down. However it had seemed that your good luck had run out, after moving completely into the house, you had gotten sick which had forced you to take a day off of work which was something you hated doing. 

After taking some over the counter medication, you had felt good enough to return to your job the next day. Only for you to wind up in bed again with the sniffles and a raging headache, you had called the doctor’s office that was closest to your home while idly drawing patterns on your skin with a pen cap. The small flower disappearing quickly as you did so, which made a smile tug at the corner of your lips. Your friends had spoken positively of their soulmates, each one having already found their partner after scribbling down where they had lived on their skin. But you, you had received nothing back when it came to the drawings, not even an inkling as to if you actually had a soulmate. If you did, they may not have cared as much about the drawings as what you did. 

The thought caused a frown to cross your features and for a moment you didn’t hear the receptionist speaking on the other end of the line. When a long sigh came from the other end of the phone, you were jolted back into reality. Apologizing quickly, you had scheduled an appointment for later that evening with a relatively new doctor. You hadn’t paid close enough attention to what his name was, you just wanted to take a nap before the appointment. Once everything was scheduled, you hung up the phone and curled up under your blanket with a box of tissues next to you. 

When the alarm on your phone went off a couple hours later, you shut it off with a quiet groan, almost annoyed that you had been disturbed from such a peaceful sleep. For a brief moment you could’ve sworn you saw something written on the back of your hand but you dismissed it for the time being as you got up. Making yourself at least somewhat presentable in a pair of sweatpants and a loose fitting shirt you grabbed your keys and headed out to your car. 

The drive to the doctors office was a short one, about ten minutes at tops and you had managed to find a parking spot close to the door. After you had checked in, you had waited in their waiting room, idly messing with different games on your phone. You paused in your game, getting an idea as you began to draw little flowers all over your arm, hoping for some sort of response from your soulmate as the image you had drawn with your nail lightly disappeared in the blink of an eye. When nothing came back, you sighed softly and returned to your game until your arm had become itchy, you glanced down at your arm with a smile. Finally you were getting a response. 

“They’re beautiful.” Was the simple phrase scrawled in sloppy cursive read. You couldn’t help but giggle at the words on your skin. 

“Thank you, it took you long enough to respond.” You wrote back, adding a small smiley face at the end of the statement. It only took a few moments before another phrase was beginning to rise up on your arm.

“I’ve been busy… I love the little notes you give me, my name is Artaruk. I may not be able to respond back, I have an appointment coming up. The work never ends.”  Was the reply, you laughed quietly, looking up as the nurse had come out into the waiting room and called your name. You stood, stuffing your phone back into your pocket as you followed the nurse back into one of the exam rooms. 

She had gone over the basic information before jotting down the symptoms you described to her. After promising the doctor would be in shortly, you began to trace little patterns along your arm, something to amuse yourself in the meantime. Finding out that you did in fact have a soulmate made your day about a thousand times better. 

There was a gentle knock on the door before the doctor had walked in, you had nearly gasped in surprise. He was a huge black and white Minotaur with small horns, smiling at you, he greeted you warmly. 

“Good evening, I am Doctor Trevino.” His voice was soothing with the hint of an accent that you couldn’t quite place your finger on. “I see you have been having symptoms akin to a cold, no?” He questioned as he looked over your file and the notes the nurse had written down. 

“Correct, it’s been going on for awhile now, I just want to get better so I figured it was time I came in.” You answered honestly, watching as he typed on the too small keyboard carefully as if he was going to break it if he pressed down on the keys any harder. 

“Since it’s been going on for awhile now, I’ll send some medications over for the pharmacy to fulfill, you should be better in no time.” He gave you a charming smile that no doubt would have other girls melting. But not you, you were just grateful that whatever it was you had going on would go away soon. 

“Thank you doctor!” You chimed, slipping off of the table that you had been sitting on in the exam room and making your way to the receptionist desk to pay for the visit before you drove to the pharmacy. 

The medication that the doctor had prescribed had worked for a short while before it went right back to square one. And the process had repeated itself several times before Dr. Trevino had made a suggestion during one of your visits. 

“Have you had the house you moved into fully inspected? Sometimes things are hidden and aren’t caught right away, like mold, if you have allergies that could be what’s making this cold linger so long.” He had mentioned to you offhand, the more you had thought about it the more it had almost made sense. 

You had called an inspector out, and it had turned out that the house did in fact have mold in it. It had put a damper on things and your wallet would take a hit with the removal fees, but that was all worth it once the house was cleared. 

In the meantime, you had finally managed to get a number out of your soulmate, finding yourself texting them at all hours of the night when they had gotten off of their shift. While you had drawn them flowers and little notes throughout the day, they had hastily scribbled down reminders that made you laugh. Your soulmate had even gone as far as to ask you to text them every so often to make sure they had indeed done the thing they needed to. 

You had asked them several times to meet up with you, and each one had been blown off as they couldn’t get off of work and you were starting to think you’d never meet them. Until they had texted you out of the blue one evening asking if you had wanted to go on a date with them the following day as they had a day off from work. You had eagerly agreed to it and he had suggested a nice café in town that you swore had the best drinks on the menu. 

What you hadn’t expected was to see Doctor Trevino sitting in a booth. You had glanced around before texting your soulmate, asking where they were sitting. When you heard Doctor Trevino’s phone go off, you grinned as he responded back to the text you had sent him. Shortly after your phone had vibrated with the new text, you walked over and slid into the booth seat across from him. A look of surprise had crossed his features momentarily before he smiled at you sheepishly. 

“I didn’t expect it to be you but this is a pleasant surprise.” He began with a quiet laugh, you nodded in agreement. 

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you Doctor Trevino, or should I call you Artaruk?” You asked teasingly, the waitress swinging by your table to take your orders. 

“Artaruk please.” He answered with a smile. The waitress appeared a few moments later with both of your drinks in hand. 

The date had gone over really well, and you had left the café in high spirits. You had talked about everything and anything that had come to mind. But the main thing had been why he hadn’t bothered to respond to any of your other questions that you had written on your skin for your soulmate to, he had soothed your worries, explaining that he had seen each and every question. But he was a bit of a scatterbrain and would forget to write an answer back, or at times he was too busy to respond. He was a doctor that traveled from one practice to another, wherever they needed him he went.

Enough so that you had eventually agreed to go out with him a second time, and then a third. But eventually, you had managed to get yourself sick again. Catching a cold from one of your coworkers had you bed-ridden for a week. Artaruk had even used some of his days off to come take care of you despite you being rather needy at times. It was worse this time around, and it almost seemed as though as soon as you had started to feel the slightest bit better, it immediately got worse again. Artaruk had scolded you multiple times as you would do things that you shouldn’t be while you were sick. 

“It’s still not going down.” He huffed, checked your temperature for the tenth time that day, a deep frown covering his features as he retrieved the bowl of soup he had made you. You hadn’t been able to keep much down other than the soup and saltine crackers that he had crushed up and mixed into the soup. 

“I’ll be fine, nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” You croaked out, your throat sore from all the coughing you had been doing, the cough drops he had gotten you weren’t helping much either. You had figured that all you would need to do was ride the storm out. 

You had propped yourself up enough that you could take the bowl from his hands, shooting him a thankful smile as you began to eat it. While you didn’t eat much, it was enough to satisfy the minotaur when you had said that you were done. 

“I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you making me food.” You sniffed, the Minotaur playfully rolling his eyes at you.

“Probably not make it through these trying times.” He huffed a laugh before reaching down to ruffle your hair lovingly. 

You smiled and shifted, scooting over in your bed so that he could join you. “Snuggle me?” You asked innocently.

For a moment it had seemed as though he was debating on if he should or not before he finally sighed in defeat. Climbing into the bed next to you, he held open his arms and you had instantly snuggled right against his chest. His fur was short but still really soft and you never got tired of messing with it when you could. He had pressed a kiss to your forehead as you finally began to drift off to sleep, the first time you had felt comfortable since getting this sick. 

With Artaruk taking care of you, considering that he was a doctor after all, you were feeling better in no time. A couple of days after he had started taking care of you, you finally felt well enough to go back to work which was something you were grateful for. Although a couple of nights after you had started going back to work, you had come home one evening to find your minotaur sprawled out on the couch with a dozen tissues scattered around the floor. He had glanced up at the sound of the door opening and merely gave you a half-hearted wave before laying back down with a groan.

“Not feeling so well?” You asked almost teasingly, setting your bag down by the door as you walked over to him and placed your hand against his forehead. He felt warmer than he normally did, so you had begun to set to work. “I told you to take the day off, call in sick and rest up but no, you didn’t want to listen to me and instead had gone into work to help them out.” You huffed at the bull who had dismissed it with a wave of his hand. 

“At least I wasn’t interacting with patients, it was just organizing the files and stuff that day since they heard me sniffing.” He sighed, reaching for a bottle of water that was on the coffee table right beside him. You could only laugh in response to his excuse. Remembering how the two of you had bickered about whether or not he should go to work, you walked into the kitchen and began to make soup for him. 

As the smell drifted throughout the small house, he gave a quiet chuckle. “Thank you.” He hummed, climbing up off the couch and walking into the kitchen, only to rest his chin on your shoulder. You laughed in response and playfully nudged him. 

“Hey now, back up there mister, I don’t need to be getting sick again, I just got better and one of us needs to be bringing in the money for this house.” You teased, Artaruk merely huffed in response before sitting down at the table. It wasn’t long before you felt the familiar itching of your arm, glancing down you noticed there was a little heart and all you could do was smile in response to it. 

“I love you too, but I think you need to listen to me better next time. Especially since I’m the one who gets sick the most.” You chided, the bull laughing in response to the statement before coughing. 

Plopping a bowl of soup down in front of him, you sat across from him at the kitchen table. He eyed the bowl warily before taking a spoonful of soup. You were going to treat him exactly how he treated you when you were sick, and you were going to enjoy  every second of it. When he was done and you had felt he ate enough, you had cleaned up before motioning to the shared bedroom. 

Once inside, he had plopped down on the bed before tugging the covers up over him. Closing his eyes and drifting off into a light sleep, you ran your fingers through his soft fur. “Sleep well Doctor, I hope this passes quickly for you.”

[inthatverse]

I'm sorry for releasing these matchups relatively slowly because uni work is kinda keeping me really occupied rn since the academic year is ending and so a bunch of projects, assignments and quizzes are due. Not to mention the final exam ahhahah!! But rest assured that in a month or so I'll be a lot more free and have way more time to focus on requests and fulfilling your dreams!! 😊

In the meantime, I'll try to post at least one matchup per day and thank you so so much for all your requests uwu they make me so excited!!

[daily-dose-of-imagines]

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ Matchup ♥

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I just want to say thank you for even considering my match-up 🥺❤ ily ily so much aH 💖💕💗

hello !! can i request a demon slayer, mystic messenger and haikyu match-up? I’m a 5"4 straight female girl, black hair and brown eyes and (sometimes) wear glasses wOoP

as for personality- i like to think that i am a good student and my friends say that i’m determined and dedicated towards my goals but this can lead me to be very stressed in a short period of time. My personality type is an INFJ and i am play the role of the mother in my friend group. I tend to bottle up my feelings, this (again) can lead me to breakdowns and attacks (but i’m working on it :)) I hate crowded places but really love cafes. oml- I’ve been dying to go to the cafes after quarantine ends. I really love the smell of coffee and have been trying out recipes on my own in the meantime :). you can always find me in your local cafe, either doing my work or just chilling around.

likes/dislikes- i really love babies, like if i could hold one for the whole day, i would do it without a doubt. I also enjoy spending my free time just playing instruments (currently learning 3, one of them is the piano :)) I’ve been taught to play them since i was a smol child :) oh! and I recently got into a lot of reading so that’s cool ;D i mentioned this before but i am also learning how to make different beverages during quarantine, so far, andd studying medical science in my free time is a common thing for me.

aspirations/dreams- I am now studying to become a medical professional (whether it is a doctor or anything else- im not sure), and this has been my goal since i was a child. This is a bit cliche but i want to give back to the world, i want to see smiles in children's faces and i want to be satisfied with what i do.

one last thing- thank you so so much for writing the match-up, i really love you guys and the content you published. Everything is just *chef’s kiss*. If it is not too much of a burden, is it okay for you to make this anonymous? again, thank youuu, i’ll be looking forward to your future works! ❤️

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Hello and thank you for submitting with us! And I am so glad that you love our work, and I hope you keep on supporting us as we grow! I sincerely hope you enjoy the boys I paired you up with!

>Admin 𝕋

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𝐼 𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽...

This well-mannered lovable man, Daichi, would be the best for you!!! He will love how you look, though look don’t necessarily matter to him, but if it’s you, then he will absolutely adore your black hair and brown eyes! And your short stature? Don’t worry about it, you’re just more huggable to him, than others are! And when there are times that you wear your glasses, he will literally dote on you, telling you you look so cute!

As for personality, he will like the fact that you are a good, reliable student, since he is a captain of the volleyball team, he understand the need for someone who is responsible and level headed! He will also understand when you can get stressed, and when he sees you that you are having a tough time, he will do everything in his power to make you feel more comfortable and relaxed! Daichi will feel such a big bonding moment with the fact that you are also kind of a parental figure to your friends like he is with his teammates! When you tell him that you hate crowded areas, which he will make sure not to take you, and when you two are on a date, and he sees a rather unoccupied cafe, Daichi will suggest going there to decompress from the day. He would even buy your favorite coffee without having to ask! 

Daichi loves babies too! The fact that you love babies, and would want to hold them when you see them will make his heart soar. It would make him imagine what his future would be with you and a newborn, and just the thought of that makes him so incredibly happy! Since you play instruments, he would want you to play something for him! Something that you are confident, so that he can watch you play with a smile on your face, loving what you are playing! And the fact that you are learning how to make drinks would be cool to him, he would even ask you to make something for him, or have him be your guinea pig for experimental drinks!

When he hears that you are studying to be a medical professional, and the reason you want to be a medical professional is to give back and help people, he will be so so so proud of you, and so happy that you are so caring and kind! He will see hoe stressful it is to study such difficult content and would hope that his presence would be able to help you through the toughness of exams and labs! He would help you in anyway he can, from getting stuff you need for your studies from making sure that you get enough rest!

Ah yes, the calm and collected Jumin Han, would be the best man for you in mystic messenger! For appearance, I think he find you very cute and compact. He would just stare down at you for long periods of time, with a blank stare and nod his head afterwards and walk away with a smile on his face. Now, this is just him appreciating how you look and thinking you are perfect for him!

For personality, Jumin would be super appreciative of the fact that you are so reliable and responsible! He wouldn’t want anybody less than someone who is successful and smart! Though when he notices that you work yourself a little too hard sometimes, he will gently scold, take you away from what is causing you that stress, and have a professional come and give you shoulder massage! He will think it is quite cute that you are the mom friend of the group, and how all your friends rely on you, but he will only like to an extent and not when they just use you! He will understand the bottling up feelings and taking it out on others, since he can do the same thing, but you both can help each other be more calm, and collected, and help each other to be better than that! When he figures out that you love cafes and making coffee, Jumin will quite literally just buy a cafe, and then whenever you want to use it, he will clear it out so only you and him and be in it!

Jumin, I feel, is indifferent to babies, but once he sees you carrying a random baby in your arms, he will have this revelation and think, that yeah, he would definitely want to have a baby with you, especially if you look that happy! When he learns that you also play some instruments, one of them being the piano, he would be very impressed, but critical if you are any good or not. And when he finds out that you are really good, he would shower you with compliments! And when he sees you making new drinks for your cafe, he would want to drink them, and give you his honest opinion, not to be mean, but to make sure that you do well when you are experimenting!

Jumin will think that you are so amazingly cool, with the fact that you are wanting to become a medical professional. Jumin will do anything he can do to help you, from buying your books from you, or helping you study keywords, so that you can do really well on the exams! And when you do well on said exam, he will congratulate you by giving you a very special present! He will just love that fact you are so compassionate, and wants to give back to the people and community!

The head strong yet kind man, Tanjiro from Demonslayer! For appearances, he will love the cute stature you have, thinking it only heightens how cute you are to him! And with your brown and and brown hair, he will also think that you are quite attractive. In his eyes, simplicity is best! He will see you and think how huggable you are! And when you where your glasses sometimes, boom, his heart will explode! Don’t break him too hard!

For personality, he will really appreciate the fact that you are such a good and reliable student, and that you are like the mom friend to your friends. He will feel a connection with you on that, seeing as he is friends with zenitsu and inosuke, who he has to watch over all the time and make sure they don’t hurt each other! And when you get too stressed and start to lash out, he will tell you what he feels, how he feels and help you through the emotions that you can’t process, until you calmed down and eventually able to make sure you never take your frustration out again! When Tanjiro is told that you hate crowded places but absolutely love cafes, he will take a mental note of that. And when he sees an empty cafe that has exclusive homemade dango, Tanjirow will take your hand drag you to the place, so both of you can have a wonderful time!

Tanjiro will love of the fact that you love babies! He wants to have lots of babies, most likely to fill that void of losing his family! And whenever he sees you with a baby, he will get a huge smile on his face, and would just want to kiss you, and tell you how much he loves you! He will also think that it is so cool that you play three different instruments, and would definitely want to hear you play something for him! so that he can just compliment you as you play for him! And when Tanjiro sees that you read a lot, he will be super impressed, thinking that he should read more often, like you do, to bond over it with you!

When you tell him that you want to be a medical professional, he will feel his heart ache in love for you! You being compassionate, and wanting to give back to the people, and healing children so that you can see them smile and be healthy, it will make him love you even more! It make him see just how much of a kind person you are, and it will make him to marry you on the spot!

[danganronpedits-archived]

in the meantime while i’m working on the second kin matchup, i’m gonna queue up some tsumugi icons...! they’re the ones i’ll be using during pride month, and if i kinshift then i’ll probably whip up some other ones for that character! these are self indulgent, but feel free to use them!! doubles are mighty valid

-mod tsu, who keeps forgetting to put mod tsu at the end of stuff, and is wishing you all a happy pride month!

[wrestlingisfake]

Wrestle Kingdom 15 day 2 preview

TBD vs. Jay White - White is challenging for the IWGP heavyweight title and IWGP intercontinental title, against the winner of Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi from last night.  In fact several of the matches on this card are major spoilers for yesterday’s show, so I guess the whole thing needs to go under the cut.

Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White - Ibushi defeated Tetsuya Naito last night to become the 73rd IWGP heavyweight champion and the 27th IWGP intercontinental champion.  White is using his “IWGP double championship right to challenge” contract to receive this title shot.  If White wins, Ibushi’s 24 hours as double champion would be the shortest reign in the history of either championship.

Ibushi was devastated when he was knocked out of the Double Gold Dash last year, and moreso when he lost to White in the consolation match.  Ibushi and White met again during the G1 Climax, where Jay beat him again.  Ibushi nevertheless won the G1 Climax to earn the “right to challenge” contract.  However, the contract is defended like a championship, and Ibushi put it on the line against White...who beat him again.  White then elected to take January 4 off and schedule his title match with Naito for January 5.  However, Naito decided to spend the 4th defending the title against Ibushi.  The upshot is that Ibushi has finally achieved his dream, but he must immediately put it all on the line against his nemesis, who isn’t exhausted from working last night.

Frankly, I’m not sure why they set this up where the 1/4 main event sets up who gets to wrestle White, like he’s the biggest star in this thing.  I suppose maybe the idea is that he’s unavoidable so that you’ll worry until the very end that he could ruin everything. Maybe that psychology connects with the Japanese audience.  It doesn’t with me.  I’d rather just see the best and/or biggest match close the second show, and White vs. Ibushi isn’t it.  Their match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 last year was so dull that I lost interest for about 20 minutes.  Jay will go for the same cheap heat spots he always goes for, and Ibushi will randomly no-sell or oversell each of them, depending on whether he wants to be Ultra Instinct Shaggy or Ricky Morton at any given moment.

I suppose White-Ibushi matches have been fun, sometimes.  I really liked the G1 Climax 2019 final.  But personally I was over this feud months ago.  I really hope they’ve come up with some new material, or this is going to be a long slog for me.  I’m picking Ibushi to win, because I really don’t think they’ll book White to win just to troll the Tokyo Dome.  But the bigger problem is, I wouldn’t care if they did.

Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi - Ishimori is defending the IWGP junior heavyweight championship.  Hiromu defeated El Phantasmo last night to earn this title shot.  Ishimori won the title from Takahashi on August 29, although they met again in the Best of the Super Jr. tournament on November 15, where Hiromu won.  So this is the rubber match.

This match should be good to great, but it feels inevitable that Takahashi will regain the title.  That’s not all bad, since he’s a big star and I’m a fan, but the match would mean more if Ishimori had been built up bigger.  I suppose the pandemic made that difficult, since there were enough shows (or junior heavyweights) for Taiji to really burn through other top contenders.

I guess I’ll just try to get in the mindset of enjoying Hiromu’s coronation, instead of hoping for a match that could go either way.  Then, on the off chance Ishimori actually wins, I’ll be properly shocked.  But I’m not betting on that happening.

EVIL vs. SANADA - Welp, it had to happen--after Evil turned on Los Ingobernables de Japon and joined Bullet Club, it was only a matter of time before his tag team partner Sanada finally got a hold of him and...wait.  I’m looking at my notes for the Evil-Sanada match from October 17.  I’m frankly not sure why Sanada suddenly got mad at Evil two months after winning that match.  I’m pretty sure they just ran out of ideas for each guy.  Well, the October bout wasn’t as emotionally charged as I wanted anyway, so I’ll take a delayed grudge match if I can get it.

I believe Kevin Kelly commented recently that a win for Sanada here moves him closer to the main event title picture, but a loss sends him tumbling back down. I’d agree with that assessment.  Along the same lines, a win for Evil suggests a renewed push for him, whereas a loss would signal that they’re putting him on the back burner for a while.  I don’t expect either guy to headline the really big shows, but even on the lesser shows, only the winner of this match makes sense chasing the heavyweight and intercontinental titles.

I’d be in favor of these two brawling all around the ringside area (as much as safety procedures allow) and getting it out of their system.  Blow this feud off quickly, so we can get on with new business--Sanada working his way up the ladder, and Evil plotting against his rivals within Bullet Club.  I’m picking Sanada to win.

Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb - Takagi is defending the NEVER title.  Cobb beat Shingo in their last singles encounter in September, but Takagi wasn’t champion yet.  So Cobb had to beat him again in a tag match in December to set up this match.  Of course, in the meantime, Cobb turned heel by joining Will Ospreay’s new stable, the Empire.

You could always count on either of these guys to have a great clubberin’ battle, but Cobb’s heel turn should add a vicious new edge to this matchup.  We should get a strong showcase of what to expect from Evil Jeff Cobb, above and beyond what he demonstrated in World Tag League.  Accordingly, I think he basically has to win the title.  There just isn’t anything so important that it’s worth keeping the belt on Takagi; the most interesting thing he could do right now is chase Cobb.  So this is another “feels like a foregone conclusion” match on a card full of them.  At least this one should be fairly different from the others.

El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi - Despy and Kanemaru are defending the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team titles.  Wato and Taguchi each managed to beat Despy in one-on-one matches during Best of the Super Jr., so I guess they figured they’d make a go of it as a team.

If you’d told me a year ago that a Young Lion would come back from excursion with a bunch of fancy vignettes, and it was all to build to this match, past-me would never have dreamed that the new guy would be the dimmest star of this group.  But as it happens, Desperado had an epic star-making performance in BOSJ, Taguchi is a comedy institution in the promotion, and Kanemaru is at least a champion.  Wato just hasn’t been booked like a hot new star, and the whole idea of having guys like Taguchi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan coach him just makes him look weaker.  You get the feeling this match is designed to help him recover from all that, except that I have no confidence he’ll actually win the big one in the Tokyo Dome.  If he loses here, he’s basically Captain New Japan Mark II.

What’s worse for Wato is that I’m not even sure it’s a good idea for him to finally win the big one, not at Desperado’s expense.  The drama of the BOSJ final took me from “Oh, that one guy who looks like Skeletor cosplaying El Kabong” to “holy shit El Desperado isn’t fucking around.”  They need to run with that, and maybe dropping the tag title is step one.  But dropping it to Master Wato?  I guess Wato could pin Kanemaru, but still.

To me the best finish for everyone involved is if the champs retain and Wato flips out and turns on Taguchi.  But that sort of thing is awfully swerve-y for New Japan, and it’s smarter not to assume it’ll happen every time it’d be a little convenient.  So I guess we’ll see what they’ve got.  But I feel safe predicting the champs retain and Wato doesn’t get over as a babyface.

Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale vs. Chase Owens vs. BUSHI - This is a four-way match to decide who gets first possession of the provisional KOPW 2021 trophy. Whoever holds the trophy at the end of the year will be the official King of Pro Wrestling in 2021, or something.  Yano won the title for 2020, but it’s a new year so we have a new title.  The participants here were the final four of last night’s New Japan Ranbo gauntlet match.  I gather that the first man to score a fall over any other opponent wins.

This is a pretty oddball lineup so I would imagine this match will just be a lot of shenanigans.  All four guys will cheat to win, but Owens and Fale will work together to double-team cheat, so they can be bigger heels than the other two.

Yano originally won the KOPW 2020 trophy in a four-way like this one, by stealing a pin over Kazuchika Okada of all people.  So I would think that makes him a heavy favorite to win here.  The only question is if the bookers think it’d be funnier for his tricks to backfire when dealing with the massive, extremely irritated Fale.  I think I’d rather see Fale defending the trophy for six months, to be honest, but my gut says Yano will win again.

AZM & Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita vs. Natsupo & Himeka & Maika - This is one of two women’s matches to provide exposure to STARDOM, the women’s promotion owned by New Japan’s parent company.  In Japan it’s seems to be considered normal for promotions to be all-male or all-female, and for fans to only want to see one or the other on a given event.  So I get the impression some New Japan fans have a problem with running Stardom matches on a NJPW show, although I certainly don’t see why.  In any case, TV and streaming rights mean that Western fans probably won’t actually see this match; I’m not even sure it will be televised.  And I unfortunately know nothing baout Stardom, so it’s kind of pointless for me to comment on performers I’ve never heard of in a match I’ll probably never get to see.

Tam Nakano & Mayu Iwatani vs. Syuri & Giulia - Another women’s match to showcase Stardom.  In this case I at least recognize Iwatani’s name from some ROH shows a couple of years ago, but that’s about it.  I’m all for getting women’s wrestling some more exposure anywhere you can do it, but unfortunately these matches are aimed at the live audience in the Tokyo Dome, and won’t do much good raising my awareness.

[hatsukeii]

Hello! Can i request a Hq matchup? I'm a 5'1 female. People describe me as cheerful, optimistic and easygoing. But my bffs know that I burn out when I socialize too much and push myself with studying. I love music, books, and art. A bit intimidating but when you get to know me, I'm a softie and a crackhead to my bffs. My mood changes often but I get over it quickly. I'm very energetic but I need to relax in a quiet place and cover myself in blankets so that I can recharge. Thank you very much

*Huff* Matchups are gruelling lmaooo

Your matchup is:

🦔Asahi “No I’m not a drug dealer no I don’t grope people on the streets the worst thing I’ve done is accidentally step on a kitten’s tail” Azumane🦔

Awwww this sweetie.

Asahi’s the type of boyfriend that would politely protect you at parties. He won’t put up a fight, he won’t argue, he’ll just politely ask people to back off you and your friends. What a gentle giant, we all love him. He doesn’t mind piping up at a party with you, sometimes even joining in on the gossiping like a new addition to your girl friend group. However, whenever you feel like winding down and just going home to cuddle, he’s all up for it too! He’s just so soft oh my god he’ll literally do anything for you he’s an absolute keeper-

Y’all he’s so good at handling your mood swings like what- You’re angry? He has chocolates in his bag just for you. You’re suddenly sad? He got you lunch and invited you over for a game date. If you’re happy? Great, he can just joke around. You’re suddenly insecure? He will literally do a forty minute presentation on every single thing he loves about you. He can cope with every single one of your moods as easily as he keeps his man bun up.

CUDDLES. HE LOVES CUDDLING. He likes to keep you close at all times like the protective husbando he is. Loves to play with your hair, even though he has long hair himself. His excuse? “Girls have softer hair, lets face it.” Gives you cheek pecks 25/8, and holds your hand everywhere. He’s so sweet dear LORD-

Wow, you like books, music and art? He’s hooked. He will bring you on bookstore dates. A lot. And he’ll also get you books in the meantime. If you enjoy going to art museums, good. He’s a sucker for those aesthetic ass angel sculptures, or the abstract works hung up on the majestic walls. He may not be able to do music, but he sure does enjoy it when you give him song recommendations and/or play him music. He will not hesitate to sing along to whatever you’re listening to, and will sometimes take one of your earbuds just to learn more about your music taste.

Overall: 10000/10 boyfriend material.

Catchphrases:

“Ah, sorry, they’re not very comfortable with guys coddling over them, please leave them alone.”

“Oh my god, you’re for real? They actually got caught in the classroom doing it? Damn bitches gotta keep it in their pants, geez.”

“You up to go to the museum tomorrow? I heard there are some cool statues there!”

“Can I braid your hair? Pleaaaaaase?”

Other possible matches:

Yaku “Lev stfu or I’ll kick your skyscraper ass like it’s nothing” Morisuke

Daichi “Tsukishima you irritate someone one more time I will kick you out of the team” Sawamura

Goshiki “When am I finally gonna be the ace” Tsutomu

[antigenius]

Some Fics in the works!

Hi! Yeah, I know I’ve been just talking a lot on here lately (and I should be writing both for school and for here) bUT!

I just wanted to make sure those who are kinda bored of just matchup content, knows that there is some... spicy content on the way ;)))) and other content!!

I know I have a lot of matchups to do, but I do want you guys to have something else in the meantime, so here’s what’s gonna come out soon!!

🚨 = Smut, 🐰= Fluff, 🥺= Angst

BNHA

No Escape [Villain Denki x Reader] 🚨

Submission [Yandere! Deku x Reader] 🚨

Forever {Part 2} [Hubby! Bakugou x Wife! Reader] 🥺

Haikyuu!!

Rejected {Multichap Soulmate AU} [Sugawara x Reader x Iwazumi] 🐰🥺

I’ll also be reopening my inbox for requests once I finish up the matchups, but until then, keep some ideas ready for me ^^

[doctorgerth]

I never ever in my life expected to ever reach this many followers when I started this silly blog earlier this spring!

I’m in no way a practiced writer, I’m simply doing this for fun and yet 700+ of you are still interested in my work and love to keep up with it! That really means so much to me ❤️❤️ I’m literally speechless I just want you to know that I love you guys and you all make life a lil brighter for me 🥰

I apologize heavily for my inactivity, but holidays are growing nearer and nearer so hopefully I’ll have plenty of content for you then! In the meantime, I’m finally finished with the matchup game, so now I can go back to focusing on actual requests! I’ll upload when I can. Thanks for being so understanding and for sticking by me 💘

[tkmedia]

Fresh off upset win, Jimmy Williams is ready to face the junior middleweight elite

Fresh off upset win, Jimmy Williams is ready to face the junior middleweight elite

Williams (left) takes on Enver Halili. Photo by Williams Paul/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) 09 Jul by Michael Montero Last month, Jimmy “Quiet Storm” Williams scored what was perhaps the finest win of his career. In the main event of a show at Buckhead Fight Club in Atlanta, Williams (18-5-2, 6 knockouts) defeated former junior middleweight titleholder Yuri Foreman by majority decision. That upset victory has the Connecticut native hungry to get right back in the squared circle as soon as possible. “It was an unbelievable experience,” Williams told The Ring. “I have a lot of family and friends down there in Atlanta. It felt like I was right at home, the southern hospitality was great.” Foreman had been in the midst of a comeback after being out of the ring for nearly four years. Those plans were ruined when Williams crashed the party. “I felt very confident going up against Foreman,” he said. “I was familiar with him. We had trained together before in Patterson, New Jersey. We sparred over 20 rounds. I envied him at the time because he had been the champ. Now, I have a win against him. It was absolutely one of the best wins of my career.” Williams is 2-0 this year after a rough stretch in 2019-2020, when he lost four of five fights, including a KO 1 defeat to junior welterweight prospect Brandun Lee last October. “I just wasn’t prepared for those fights,” he explained. “No excuses, but we were taking fights on late notice, we were fighting at unnatural weights. The Lee fight was at 144 pounds, I came into the ring with nothing left.” After the Lee fight, Williams went all the way up to middleweight, where he dropped a unanimous decision in Mexico to a fighter with a losing record. On paper, he should have dominated the fight. At that point he was at a crossroads and did some soul searching. Williams realized that he had to make changes and make them fast. “I was in danger of becoming a fighter that’s known as the opponent,” he told The Ring. “I was definitely heading in that direction. So, I made changes in camp. I’m with a new team now, training at Champs Gym in Waterbury, Connecticut.” “I sought out the Yuri Foreman fight. This win proves I’m more than just the opponent.” Williams started boxing at the age of eight but soon found his way into other sports. Born a gifted athlete, he excelled in football and track in high school. He ended up playing college football and, although undrafted, was invited to workout with several NFL teams. When football didn’t work out, it was back to boxing, where he has fought as a pro since 2013. Today, at 34 years old, Williams has a new team, new gym and a new attitude. He also says there will be no more weight jumping or late-notice fights. “I’m at my natural weight now,” he said. “I’ll only be fighting at 154 pounds from now on. When I was younger I could make welterweight, but the older I got, it took a lot of strength out of me. And I’ll be fully prepared for every fight we take, the same way I was for Foreman.” “The junior middleweight division has some great names. I would love to share the ring with Tony Harrison, Julian Williams or Jarrett Hurd.” Next Saturday, Jermell Charlo and Brian Castaño will fight in San Antonio, Texas to unify all of the junior middleweight titles. It’s a matchup that Williams has been paying close attention to. “That’s such a good fight,” he said. “Both men are champions. Brian comes to fight, but I like Charlo. He’s more physical. I think he takes it with a late-round stoppage.” “I’d like one or two fights and then I’d love a crack at Charlo. But if the opportunity presented itself now, I’d absolutely take it. In the meantime I plan to return to the ring in late August or September. My promoter Jimmy Burchfield (president of CES Boxing) is putting something together. I’m looking to headline something in Connecticut. Things are opening back up here (from Covid) and fans will be able to attend.” “I would like to thank everybody that supports me. Keep a look out for me, because this is the most important part of my career. I’m just now hitting my prime. Big fights are on the horizon. I’m going to be world champion.” Michael Montero can be found on social media via @MonteroOnBoxing. His podcast “The Neutral Corner” can be seen every Monday on TheRingDigital YouTube channel, and heard on audio podcast platforms around the world. GET THE LATEST ISSUE AT THE RING SHOP (CLICK HERE) or Subscribe

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Will a win over William Zepeda open doors at 135 for Hector Tanajara Jr.? Schedule | View All 09Jul Gilberto Ramirez vs. Sullivan Barrera, Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Javier Fortuna, Tenkai Tsunami vs. Seneisa Estrada (DAZN) 17Jul Jermell Charlo vs. Brian Castano (Showtime) Instagram Facebook

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[thegeneralsnotebook]

May Feature: The Forgotten Single Faceoff

Faceoffs, as we all know, are the bread and butter of the MLP: CCG. In virtually any matchup, the most dynamic and interesting parts of a game are going to be involved with faceoffs. Sometimes it’s the tricks employed in somehow being able to win a faceoff that seemed impossible, or sometimes it’s the manoeuvring before the faceoff, as the players try to ensure that the faceoff happens on their terms, rather than those of the opponent. Often, when playing aggro especially, the game comes down to a simple situation: both players close to fifteen, fresh problems on the board. How many times have you heard it, or said it yourself? “If I can double confront this turn, I’ll win.”

I think it’s right that double confronts and the resulting multi-Problem faceoffs get something of an outsized amount of attention. They are, as above, often the points upon which games turn. But I also think that their somewhat smaller cousins, the single Problem faceoffs, are too often overlooked. Their existence is actually an important tactical facet of the game, and seeing the opportunity for one when it’s available can be an important skill to develop, if you want to wring the maximum value from any given board state.

What are faceoffs for?

Why do we start faceoffs anyway? Well, sometimes, we don’t. Old-style control decks of the sort we still see in Harmony as a rule didn’t start faceoffs, since they wanted to set up a board state and maintain it. They wanted the same Problems on the field for the whole game, and they had their own ways of getting points. But in essence this article isn’t really about control. Because for aggro decks, faceoffs are often the whole essence of their style. Faceoffs, after all, are how Problem bonus points are unlocked, and winning a faceoff offers a fresh Problem with a fresh set of bonus points that can be scored later. Cycling through the Problem deck and scoring the bonus points is essentially how a basic aggro deck tries to win. Even if you’ve got other ways of scoring extra points, usually they center around confronting and winning faceoffs anyway, e.g. Night Glider. (Farming decks, of course, like faceoffs too, but we’re also leaving them out of this discussion, since as usual they’re in a whole different ballpark on this issue.)

So, if from an aggro perspective we want to start faceoffs as a way of scoring extra points, then what’s the difference between a single faceoff and a double? Fundamentally, there are two differences. The first is that a single faceoff will always be worth at least one point less than a multi-faceoff. Naturally, this point comes from all of the Problems that you’re not potentially confronting on the turn. As a balancing factor, though, confronting one Problem is almost always going to be easier than confronting more than one, and if the single faceoff is happening at the Problem with the most bonus points anyway, then the bonus point value is the same whether it’s a single or a multi. So in that sense single faceoffs can sometimes be just as valuable as multi-faceoffs.

The second difference, though, is the big one, because single faceoffs only happen when you confront a Problem while your opponent is also confronting it. This means that except in some very specific circumstances, your opponent confronted the Problem on their last turn, and in a sense then offered you the opportunity to start the single faceoff. That complication can lead to all sorts of tough questions. For one thing, if the opponent doesn’t want you to start a single faceoff, all that they have to do is not confront a Problem, and save their resources for starting a multi-faceoff instead. Or maybe they’re well aware that they’ve given you the opportunity, because they’re packing an Immediate-speed trick in the hopes of baiting you into a losing faceoff. Single faceoffs are a real minefield for all these reasons, which is why knowing when to start them, and when to offer them to an opponent, is such an important skill.

The Clear Board Problem

We’ve all been there. The opponent just started a multi-Problem faceoff, concluded it, and now it’s your turn. You’re looking at fresh Problems, but all of your stuff is at home because your Day Shift got hit with a Napcakes during the faceoff. You do some quick maths and realize pretty quickly that you don’t have enough AT to double confront, but you could confront one of the Problems relatively easily. If you bank and pass, you’ll probably be able to double confront next turn, but who knows what your opponent (with their tricky Purple cards) will do in the meantime to change the equation. What do you do?

You might think to take the single confront if you can get it, but as we discussed in the above section, there is a risk associated with that course. Namely, that by confronting only one Problem you’ve now offered your opponent an extra tactical option: counter-confronting and starting a single faceoff. From their perspective, starting that single faceoff is likely to be a lot easier than double confronting would have been, which means that they might have the resources available to turn it into a secure victory, and thus win those bonus points. So should you confront or not? This is the dance of aggro, a dance of securing tactical advantages and seizing on any opening that the opponent gives you.

This dance is also one of the biggest reasons that Immediate-speed disruption tricks have such a key place in aggro decks. If you had a Tough Love in hand, say, then the single confront might look a lot less risky. If your opponent tries to counter-confront, you can stop them, and seize the initiative right back on your next turn by starting the multi-faceoff after all. Similarly, tricks like that can also prove useful if your opponent gives you the option of counter-confronting yourself, since tricks that allow you to remove power from the opponent’s side after the faceoff starts will allow you to secure those bonus points.

Single Faceoff Tricks

With all of the intricacies of the dance around confronting Problems and offering single faceoffs to the opponent, perhaps it isn’t surprising that being able to break the pattern and unexpectedly start a single faceoff can be a boon if you can pull it off. Sometimes, it can be as easy as Belly Flopping one of your Eccentric Friends into something on the opponent’s side, and suddenly your opponent is confronting where they weren’t before. Controlling the single confront equilibrium, by the way, is one area in which Eccentric can really shine, and one of the chief reasons why the keyword could have a very real place in the game.

Or sometimes, the faceoff can be started by unexpectedly giving your opponent an extra boost of power at the Problem. Some players might cheekily request for one of their characters to get moved from home to a Problem when a Traveler Spike trigger has no other logical targets, and while they generally don’t expect it to actually happen, sometimes there’s a real value in it, if that move suddenly results in them confronting a Problem that they weren’t before. With the proliferation of Staff of Sacanas, it’s not uncommon at all for that single trigger to move up a Mane Character with 6+ Power, and that might be all that you need to get the faceoff started. Doing it this way actually offers a double advantage, since you get to take a single faceoff without your opponent even getting the single point that they would normally get from the confront. Though of course you should always be careful whenever you’re helping your opponent into a faceoff. Bringing in that Ambassador Dash with the Staff gets the faceoff started, sure, but then suddenly a Hasty Mullet hits the field and a Night Glider shows up too. As always, be mindful of Immediates.

On the flipside, sometimes you can can get value from avoiding single faceoffs that your opponent wants to start. If your opponent has spied the opportunity and invested effort in winning the single faceoff for sure, it’s worth remembering that even if you can’t stop their confront, putting yourself below the confront requirements will stop the faceoff, too. There are a lot of Immediate tricks here that would qualify; anything that can get one of your own Friends away from the Problem can work. If you’re feeling really cheeky, you might even be able to move an opponent’s Eccentric friend onto the Problem, and thus raise the confront threshold over your own Power. You might even just throw away one of your Friends, maybe by retiring a Lemon Hearts with no Resources to target. If it stops the faceoff, then sometimes it’s worth it. Most often, situations like these come up as the endgame approaches and both players are eyeing their scorecards, trying to work out how they’ll make the final push to fifteen. In these situations, holding your opponent to a single point when clearly they wanted two or three can sometimes be enough to swing the game.

Conclusion

Single faceoffs are a subject with a lot of intricacy, and myriad tactical decisions swirling around them whenever they come up. For that reason, I think that they’re one of the most important elements of the game, in creating that meaningful decision about whether or not to confront a Problem. The dance of aggro keeps the matchup tactically interesting every time that it is played, and surely that is a good thing. Developing the ability to see opportunities that the opponent has left you and then to exploit them to their fullest advantage will go a long way towards improving your aggro game, so I invite you all to look into it. And maybe, get a few more single faceoffs into your games. If nothing else, it will almost surely make for a more interesting experience.

[racingtoaredlight]

RTARL’s NBA Previewpalooza: Part One

One of the most hectic and entertaining NBA offseasons in recent memory is finally drawing to a close, and real-live game action is nearly upon us. After ending last season by swiftly dispatching the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Golden State Warriors have cemented themselves as the most ridiculous Final Boss in the history of team sports. Barring an injury that prevents either Kevin Durant or Steph Curry from playing in the postseason, it’s damn near impossible to imagine anyone preventing them from repeating. In the same way that a movie can still be great even if you guess the ending ahead of time, the ups and downs of each of the thirty teams in the NBA are still a ton of fun to follow, even if the eventual champion is basically a foregone conclusion. For me they are, anyway. 

Today I’ll be previewing the Eastern Conference, with the teams presented in the order I think they’ll finish, worst-to-first. I’ll roll out my Western Conference predictions and my picks for the end-of-season awards as soon as I can. Let’s rock and roll.

15. Chicago Bulls. Mother of God, this roster is an atrocity. Zach LaVine is the best player the Bulls have on their roster by a country mile, and he’s currently recovering from a torn ACL. He’s not even going to be cleared for contact until sometime in November. In the meantime, their best player is...Nikola Mirotic? I guess? Mirotic is a 6′10″ PF who averaged as many three-point attempts per game as rebounds last season, while shooting under 42% from the field. Woof. 

This year is all about landing a high draft pick to add to their young core of LaVine and uh, Denzel Valentine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen. Damn, GarPax. Nice work. 

14. Brooklyn Nets. Oh, jeez. I’ll say this for the Nets: I really liked the move to ship Brook Lopez out of town for D’Angelo Russell. Lopez served no purpose on a team this bad, and there’s always the chance that the next foot injury he suffers is a career-ender. Getting a young guy with Russell’s pedigree for him is a score. In addition, the Nets are doing that thing where a team acts as a dumping ground for other team’s shitty contracts, while picking up draft picks along the way (they got a 2nd rounder from Toronto for taking DeMarre Carroll, for example). 

Speaking of draft picks, it’s impossible to talk about the Nets without mentioning the truly heinous trade that deprived them of their ‘14, ‘16, 17, and ‘18 first round picks. I still can’t believe that happened. The light at the end of the tunnel for the Nets isn’t going to be all that bright until after next season, when their rebuild can finally begin in earnest. In the meantime, enjoy D’Angelo and Jeremy Lin!

13. Atlanta Hawks. I learned recently that Dennis Schroder is a huge douche and his teammates really don’t like him at all. A team’s best player being an asshole isn’t a big deal when the player is a legit stud. When it’s Dennis Schroder, that’s less than ideal. The Hawks have some decently fun guys to watch in Schroder, Kent Bazemore, Taurean Prince and incoming rookie John Collins (pride of Wake Forest). I don’t really see it translating to a whole lot of wins, though. This feels like a transitional year for them, and I’m not sure if coach Mike Budenholzer is the kind of guy who’d want to stick around for a full rebuilding project. I can’t for the life of me find any information on his contract, so it won’t be surprising if he bails after this season, and the Hawks sink into full tank-mode. 

12. New York Knicks. Well, they got rid of Carmelo. The return wasn’t all that great (that’s putting it kindly), but it’s tough to argue that it was the wrong move. Now, the team can focus on developing Kristaps Porzingis into a superstar, and trying to build around him. The Knicks definitely aren’t going to be a GOOD team, but with Kristaps doing Kristaps things, Michael Beasley doing Michael Beasley things, Willy Hernangomez hustling like a madman, and Tim Hardaway Jr. possibly attempting 10 threes a game, they won’t be a total drag to watch. 

11. Indiana Pacers. I love Myles Turner as much as almost anyone, but he’s not enough to carry a winning team by himself quite yet. Victor Oladipo is a fine running mate, and I think he’ll have his best year to date. With Darren Collison and Cory Joseph both on the roster, the Pacers are assured of having a competent, unspectacular general on the floor at all times. I think the Pacers have enough to keep from completely bottoming out, but this still looks like a lottery team.

10. Philadelphia 76ers. There’s not a team in the league with as wide a range of possible outcomes as the Sixers. There are so many “ifs” here. IF Embiid plays 65+ games, and IF Ben Simmons hits the ground running, and IF Markelle Fultz is ready to play, this team could sneak into one of the final playoff spots in the East. On the other hand, IF Embiid has a health setback and another lost year, and IF Ben Simmons is still too raw to count on, and IF Markelle Fultz’s terrible jumper totally undermines his other qualities, the Sixers could find themselves dangerously close to the Nets and Bulls at the bottom of the conference. I think the Sixers will be one of the most fun teams in the league to watch this year, but they won’t coalesce enough to make a legit run at the playoffs until next season.

9. Charlotte Hornets. Truth be told, there really isn’t much of a difference between the Hornets, Pistons, and Magic. The Hornets losing Nic Batum to injury is a bummer, as this is a team that can ill-afford to lose a playmaker. They brought in Dwight Howard, and if the early reports are to be believed, he’s as healthy as he’s been in awhile, and he’s feeling rejuvenated. It remains to be seen how long the honeymoon period will last for him in Charlotte. The Hornets are well-coached and they have several good defenders. Kemba Walker is a legit star and has shown the ability to drag his team to the playoffs in the past. I also really liked their drafting of Malik Monk. Add it all up, and the Hornets aren’t a top-tier franchise, but they’re far from a smoldering trainwreck. I’m not great with compliments.

8. Detroit Pistons. I might be one of the few people remaining on the Andre Drummond bandwagon. I still think he has it in him to be an absolute force defensively, and I hope he makes a leap this season. Bringing in Avery Bradley gives them some more shooting and further fortifies their defense. By surrounding a rim-wrecking big man with shooters, it’s pretty clear Stan Van Gundy is trying to recapture the glory of his Orlando days. If he can get something useful in return for Reggie Jackson, and if Stanley Johnson progresses enough to be a legit rotation player, the Pistons may very well have a stew going. 

7. Orlando Magic. I really like a lot of the Magic players individually, but they’ve had issues fitting together in recent seasons. I think things will be different this year. Aaron Gordon is primed to take a step forward and become an All-Star, and Elfrid Payton has the skill to be a very good PG, especially defensively. Evan Fournier and Terrance Ross can both score in bunches from beyond the three-point line. The organization seems to dislike Nic Vucevic, but he’s a good player. He’ll either be productive for the Magic, or they’ll finally find a trade they like and bring in someone who fits what they want to do. 6′ 10″ rookie Jonathan Isaac was one of the picks at the draft that made the analysts ooh and ahh, so I guess that’s a good thing. 

6. Toronto Raptors. The Raptors are a pretty good team. They have two All-Star caliber players in Lowry and DeRozan, and Serge Ibaka is a perfectly decent third wheel. With that said, it feels to me like they’ve gone about as far as they can go. Most likely, they’ll chug through the season similar to the way they have the last couple of years, and proceed to bow out early in the playoffs. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if they get off to a slow start and decide to fire Coach Dwane Casey. After that, things could really spiral out of control, and DeRozan or Lowry could end up being traded. 

5. Miami Heat. I love Erik Spoelstra, and this roster is tailor-made for a coach to go buckwild trying to cause matchup problems for the opponent. They have an elite rim-protector in Hassan Whiteside, an upper-echelon point guard in Goran Dragic, and a slew of very good role players. There’s size and athleticism up and down the roster. They can go small, they can go big, they can load up with perimeter shooting, they have Peak Dion Waiters, and they brought in Kelly Damn Olynyk. This team as constituted is a blast. The only thing keeping them from legitimate contention is their lack of a go-to superstar. Pat Riley has proven rather adept at securing the services of players like that, but they don’t have any young guys that are obvious trade pieces, and they’re devoid of draft picks for 2018, so odds of an in-season deal are pretty slim.

4. Washington Wizards. I consider myself to be a reasonably WizWoke guy, but much like the Raptors, this feels like a team that’s reached it’s ceiling. The difference between the Wiz and the Raptors is that while Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka have caused locker room issues in the past, John Wall and Brad Beal seem to be more measured and mature guys, their own rocky relationship notwithstanding. I don’t see the potential for their locker room to implode the way I do with Toronto. Barring major injuries, this is a team that should coast to home court in the first round of the playoffs. Wall and Beal are a spectacular backcourt, and Otto Porter has improved every year he’s been in the league. Marcin Gortat is steady, but his style of play is rapidly becoming a liability in today’s NBA. They’re an athletic rim-protector away from taking another step forward, and unfortunately those aren’t all that easy to acquire. Also, Markieff Morris is a total piece of shit.

3. Cleveland Cavaliers. Just to be perfectly clear, I’m not saying the Cavs are the third best team in the East. I’m saying they’ll finish with the third-best regular season record. Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, and Dwyane Wade are going to miss a ton of games. LeBron’s only objective is winning a title, and if he thinks resting during the season will improve his chances, he’s gonna sit some, as well. They aren’t going to care about gunning for a #1 seed, because they know they can beat anyone in the East without it. There will probably be a little bit of a feeling out process at the beginning of the year, but this is a veteran-laden roster and it should go smoothly. There’s a faint whiff of danger here, with Isaiah Thomas’ uncertain health, and the cloud of LeBron possibly bolting after the season hanging over everything. I don’t THINK things will take a nasty turn for them, but if they did it would be delightful from an entertainment perspective. 

2. Milwaukee Bucks. I am ALL IN on the Bucks. The term “position-less basketball” has become en vogue recently, and the Bucks are perfectly suited for it. They are flush with young, athletic, lengthy defenders. Half the battle in today’s NBA is trying to force defenders to switch assignments until you end up with a matchup you can take advantage of. Well, the Bucks have a boatload of guys who can reasonably guard every position on the floor. They’re going to be a nightmare to play against. 

In addition to their defensive capabilities, they have motherfuckin’ Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s a superhuman. I think this is the year he vaults into superduperstardom, and he’s a legit MVP candidate. The Bucks figure to get Jabari Parker back sometime around the All-Star break, and if he can pick up where he left off, it’ll give them a massive boost offensively. Jabari was averaging over 20 PPG and shooting over 36% from three before he went down.

I think the Bucks will keep the pedal to the metal all season long as they announce their presence as a legit team, and as a result the wins will pile up. They are young and hungry, and will enjoy the hell out of wrecking people. The main thing keeping me from vaulting them all the way to the top spot, and giving them serious consideration to make the Finals, is the fact that they’re coached by Jason Kidd. I have no idea if he’s a good coach or not. He does completely inexplicable things all the time, but then he’ll counteract that by pushing all of the right buttons for a few games in a row. Much like the rest of the Bucks, there’s room for him to take the next step forward and become one of the league’s best. 

1. Boston Celtics. I swear this isn’t me being a homer. The Celtics are loaded and they have a very good coach. It’ll likely take them a bit to figure out how to play together, but once they get the hang of things, they’re gonna be really good. Basically everyone has a Celtics-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals set in stone at this point. But, whereas the Cavs have the kind of well-earned confidence that allows them to not give a rat’s ass about the regular season and homecourt advantage, the Celtics aren’t there yet. I think getting homecourt for a potential playoff showdown with the Cavs is really important to them, and as a result they won’t let up during the season. Even if Kyrie Irving does miss games, as he’s wont to do, the roster is deep enough that they should still be able to hang with most teams even without him. When you have a team with this amount of talent trying to win as many games as possible, playing in a weak conference, they’re gonna put up a enough Ws to lock up a #1 seed.

Whew! That’s it for the East, be sure to come back next time for my thoroughly uninformed opinions on the West!

[imagines-never-die]

Help Wanted!

So I’ve noticed—and I’m sure you all have noticed—the growing popularity of this blog. I have 1,000 followers now and that’s absolutely insane! Thank you so much to everyone who follows this blog, you’ve been a huge inspiration on my Overwatch writing~ 

However, I feel like I’ve fallen into a bad pattern. Every month, I do a one-week drabble/request event, then spend the weeks after finishing up that event’s requests that I couldn’t finish within the event week, and only have one chance to reopen the askbox for normal requests at the end of the month. Then the cycle begins all over again the next month.

I’m only one person fulfilling 1,000 people’s requests, and one of the mistakes I made with my old imagine blog (which also had over 1,000 followers) was that I was too proud to admit that I needed help. Yes, this month’s event is being replaced for a chance to look for new writers to help run the blog. So this week, submissions will be open to send in writer applications. The application is listed under the cut, so all you need to do is copy/paste it, fill it in, and submit it to the blog.

Before filling out the application, though, you must be 17 years or older and you must have a good knowledge of Overwatch lore and characters (be able to differentiate accepted headcanon from real canon. For instance, Angela didn’t create Genji’s cyborg body or Reaper--stuff like that.) Additionally, I plan on having the new mods stay in touch via a Discord server so we can share files and voice call each other, so make sure you’re comfortable with doing voice calls.

Applications will be open from March 3rd to March 10th. After that, applications will close and I’ll announce who your new writing mod(s) will be! During this time, the askbox will be closed, but to make it up to you guys, I’ll be posting some headcanons for you~

In the meantime, for those who are interested in writing for the blog, get ready because applications open tomorrow!

Application

Mod Name: (This will be the name that you sign every matchup and request with so that the person who requested will know who wrote it. My Mod name is Sirana, so I sign my posts with “–Mod Sirana”)

Age: (17 years is the minimum age)

Main Tumblr url: (so I can contact you if I have any questions about your application)

Writing Experience: (Have you written for blogs before? Have you been in any writing clubs? Do you have any links to fanfictions or drabbles that you’ve written in the past? Done any ship weeks that you did writing for? What genre are you best at writing—angst, fluff, mystery, romance, tragedy… This is your time to show off your past works!)

About: (Tell me a bit about yourself! You don’t have to put anything you’re not comfortable with like your irl name or gender. You can put those if you want to, though. How long have you been in the Overwatch fandom? Who is your favorite character? What’s your favorite ship? What other fandoms have you been a part of? What’s your favorite book/movie? what inspires your writing? Just give me a brief description of yourself, but try not to go over three paragraphs.)

Matchup test: (Here is where I give you two descriptions of people to matchup. There is no wrong answer unless you disregard the person’s sexuality and give them a character of a gender they aren’t attracted to. Other than that, you can match them with whoever you think they’d work best with. The main part of this test is how well you can explain as to why the person would be good with the character you picked. Justify why they’d make a good couple. The more you can write on their compatibility, the better.)

              “Hey~ I’m a 4’4” hetero, INFP-T girl with brown hair and grey eyes. I like to dye my hair a lot though, usually bright pastel colors, so my hair is rarely its natural color. I like to wear those fun colored contacts, too, to change my eye color. I’m really into that whole ‘lifestyle lolita’ thing so I wear pretty, candy-colored dresses with frills most of the time. My favorite outfits are the one that I sew myself! I’m a very extroverted person who likes to meet new people and make new friends, though I cry very easily and I can’t stand being yelled at without crying just a bit (I get called a crybaby a lot >.<). I can get a little petty at times, too, and sometimes I’m accused of being childish.”

Answer: 

              “Could I get a matchup? I’m a bi, INFP, Aries girl who is about 5’6” and 18 years old. My hobbies include playing video games, writing, and watching old film noir movies (anything with Humphrey Bogart is my favorite, especially Casablanca). I love to travel and my goal is to go to every possible place I can on the planet and draw as much writing inspiration from those places that I can. I’m also slightly stuck in the past and like to listen to old 40s and 50s music and drink vintage cocktails. Personality-wise, I’m mostly introverted but I do have a few close friends. I don’t make new friends often, but when I do, we become as close as sisters/brothers! Around strangers though, I’m very jumpy, shy, and apologetic.”

Answer: 

Request Test: (Here are two request prompts that you need to fill out. You’ll be judged on proper grammar/punctuation, keeping characters in character, and overall writing style/fluidity. Length here doesn’t matter, so you can write as much as you want! For the first prompt, the headcanon one, please make everything in bullet points.)

              “Could I get some headcanons please? Junkrat, Reaper, and Sombra with how they would react/what would they do when their s/o takes a potentially lethal bullet for them and is now bleeding out everywhere? Thx!”

Answer: 

              “Scenario with Symmetra, Widowmaker, and McCree where they have a day off but they look outside and it’s raining and they’re like ‘oh well, guess we’re stuck inside’ but then they see their s/o go dashing out the front door in rain boots and an umbrella as they dance out in the puddles shouting for them to come join them. What would they do?”

Answer:

Thanks for applying! I will post the new mod(s) after March 10th!

                                --Mod Sirana

[thrashermaxey]

Injury Ward: Ehlers, Eichel, Schmaltz, Pettersson, and Hall

  Some of you didn’t buy Dobber’s fantasy hockey guide this year, and it shows. Seriously, I’m tired of watching you lose matchups to Kevin from Accounting. That guy knows absolutely nothing about hockey and he somehow manages to beat you every week with his trash team of unsustainable performers. Why don’t you go teach Kevin a lesson and pick up Dobber’s midseason guide? Readers of our midseason guide have seen immediate improvement in their love life as well as work life. Studies show 12 out of every 11 people that purchased the guide were immediately congratulated by their boss and given a promotion. If you have any pride, you’ll get Dobber’s midseason guide!

  Now that that’s out of the way, here’s the latest injury news from around the league!

  Rickard Rakell – The Ducks forward skated on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Pontus Aberg during Saturday’s practice and it appears likely he’ll be in the lineup on Wednesday when the Ducks host the Senators. Rakell posted 38 points in 39 games during the second half of last season, I’m expecting big things down the stretch this year.

  Nick Schmaltz – A lower-body injury will keep the Coyotes center out of the lineup for the rest of the season. Schmaltz had 14 points in 17 games since arriving in Arizona. Don’t forget about that production when it comes time to draft your fantasy team next year.

  Charlie McAvoy – Has been skating frequently on his own and hopes to participate in Wednesday’s practice. While he appears close to a return, the trainers need to see how he responds to the physical contact that comes with a full practice. It’s a real possibility that he returns to the lineup on Thursday against Washington or Saturday against the Leafs.

  Jack Eichel – The Sabres erred on the side of caution as they kept Eichel out of Tuesday’s clash with the Devils. Eichel had been skating earlier in the day, so the injury doesn’t appear to be too serious. Consider him day-to-day for now and don’t expect him to be out for too long.

  Jordan Staal – No news of him practicing or even skating for that matter. I’ll probably have at least one more update for you before he returns (meaning he won’t be back before next week’s article).

  Nikita Zadorov – Did some work on the ice before Monday’s practice. While this is an encouraging sign, he’ll need to participate in an actual practice before returning to the lineup.

  Mike Green – There’s a possibility he returns to the lineup on Saturday when Minnesota hosts the Red Wings. With 16 points in 23 games this season, Green has been an underrated source of production in Detroit.

  Andrej Sekera – Is scheduled to begin an AHL conditioning stint in about three weeks, putting his NHL return about five weeks away.

  Nick Bjugstad – Has been seeing a specialist for his upper-body injury. The hope is that he participates in Wednesday’s practice and returns to the lineup this weekend (Friday against the Flames/Sunday against the Canucks).

  Vincent Trocheck – Definitely won’t be back before the all-star break. So, you do have a bit of time if you’re planning on picking him up and stashing him on the IR.

  Alec Martinez – Sounds like he’s close to a return, coach Willie Desjardins thinks he should be back within the week.

  Andrew Shaw – The Canadiens forward is following concussion protocol after a neck injury began to cause him headaches. Shaw was on pace for a career-high 55 points prior to the injury.

  Kyle Turris – No recent reports of him skating. Will need to participate in a full practice before returning to the lineup.

  Mackenzie Blackwood – Skated on Tuesday but was held out of the lineup as the Sabres hosted the Devils.  Once Cam Johnson is sent down to the AHL, Blackwood should be ready to return. Through six starts, Blackwood has an impressive 1.83 GAA and .947 SV%. He is without a doubt the only intriguing goaltending option in New Jersey right now.

  Taylor Hall – Is expected to start skating soon and has been working out in the meantime. The lower-body injury has kept Hall out for two weeks (seven games) but shouldn’t be a problem for too much longer. I’ll probably have another update for you next week after which his return should soon follow.

  Cory Schneider – Has been skating but hasn’t faced shots just yet. I know Schneider has struggled this season, but you have to remember he’s coming off serious hip surgery. I was listening to Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman interview Roberto Luongo on the 31 Thoughts podcast and was surprised to hear Luongo say it takes about two years to fully recover from a surgery like that.

  Kevin Hayes – The Rangers forward is dealing with a nagging upper-body injury that affects him to a different degree each day. Coach David Quinn made it clear that this is just a day-to-day situation and it shouldn’t keep him out long term. Hayes has been having a career-season with 33 points in 39 games. As an upcoming UFA, many contending teams will try and acquire the 26-year-old for a playoff run.

  Bobby Ryan – Is it really a hockey season if Bobby Ryan hasn’t suffered a hand injury? I swear the poor guy has more hand injuries in his career than some players have points.

  Thomas Chabot – Has been skating and has even started to shoot some pucks. He’s at least a week away from a return, which means I’ll have a nice update for you in next week’s article.

  Craig Anderson – Skated on Friday but the team still doesn’t know when exactly he’ll return from a concussion.

  Justin Schultz – After three months on the shelf with a broken ankle, Schultz skated for the first time on Saturday. The injury was originally expected to keep him out for four months, and that still appears to be the case – one month left!

  Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Has been skating and participating in drills. Shouldn’t be out for too much longer.

  Alexander Steen – A shoulder injury will keep him out of the lineup for the next two weeks, after which he’ll be re-evaluated.

  J.T. Miller – Has been skating but remains week-to-week.

  Zach Hyman – Should be in the lineup on Thursday when the Leafs take on the Devils.

  Frederik Andersen – While the Leafs goaltender has been feeling better every day, this is his first groin injury so he’s relying heavily on advice from the trainers. Toronto isn’t at risk of falling out of a playoff spot, so they’d be wise to rest Andersen and ensure his health for the playoffs. He’s been incredible this season, with a 20-9-1 record and .923 SV%. Don’t expect him to be out too much longer.

  Elias Pettersson – The rookie sensation suffered a minor MCL sprain after getting tangled up with Jesperi Kotkaniemi of the Montreal Canadiens on this play. He’s expected to be out for the next week or two. Pettersson has taken the league by storm this season. He has 22 goals and 20 assists through 38 games.

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  Reilly Smith – Day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Smith hasn’t been nearly as impressive this season as he was last year. He has just 27 points through 45 games.

  Nicklas Backstrom – Missed Tuesday’s game against the Flyers due to an illness. Doesn’t sound like anything too serious so he should be back within the next game or two (Thursday against Boston/Saturday against Columbus).

  Nikolaj Ehlers – An upper-body injury will keep the Jets forward out of the lineup until early to mid-February. It appears as though Kyle Connor will take his spot on the top line beside Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler.

  from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/injury-ward/injury-ward-ehlers-eichel-schmaltz-pettersson-and-hall/

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: Preseason GM 3 - TOR

Some matchups are just special. I told my wife we had to be back to the apartment by 7:30 for this game; it’s the Leafs. It may be preseason but some things are just treasures for sports fans: rivalry is one of those things. This game delivered immediately. Within the first thirty seconds the Sabres were up 1-0, by five minutes in the Leafs were up 3-1. The First period ended 3-2. Following the Sportsnet feed on a one minute delay it was quite a ride. As we look back onto this game it is important to note that the Sabres had four, maybe five players who can be considered locks to start the season with the big club. On the Leafs side we’re talking about the downtown debut of John Tavares and pretty much all the horses lined up to go… well except for the defense but that’s because they really don’t do that in Toronto. Their last line of defense, the goalie position, was having backup testing this game, so don’t read too much into that. The wonderful thing is this game didn’t slow down.

Andrew Oglevie has been sneaky good through the preseason so far but his goal in this game was just being in the right place at the right time. The pace of this game didn’t give us a lot of time to look at that but he has put himself into a position to perhaps see a midseason call up. I’ll credit the Leafs for their speed. They figured out the NHL was going in that direction when Tim Murray was still trading for “character guys”. Their two quick early goals are more their speed than any fault of Ullmark’s; in fact after Linus figured it out in the second he actually looked great. We all don’t want to keep hearing about him but that Tavares goal was a beaut. CJ Smith took advantage of a poor defensive play by Morgan Reilly to close the gap before the end of the first. Perhaps the moment of the game came in the second when Tage Thompson toe dragged in a wicked slapper top shelf to even it. Elliotte Friedman astutely pointed out Tage is playing like the game he’s talking. If it comes down to Tage versus one of the Rodrigues-Baptise what-the-hell-are-you duet I think I am now firmly on the side of Thompson. Damn straight he gets the second star of the game, Sportsnet. West Seneca, NY native Chris Mueller’s goal was Ullmark’s fault and his biggest mistake so far in the preseason. Step off Linus though; he and Hutton are going to battle for the net this season and it’s going to be absolutely glorious compared to anything going on in net here in the last five years. This game ended 5-3 Leafs.

In New Look Sabres you can expect some special stuff during the regular season when we take on a divisional rival like our Blue and White Canadian friends. There is this little thing called the Burn Book you’ll have to wait and read for. For now, keep an eye on the blog: there is a little something-something going up there tomorrow before our second preseason matchup with the Leafs. In the meantime, let’s talk about Casey Mittelstadt. He is a lock to make the roster opening night but through three games of the preseason he has struggled to get on the score sheet while guys like Asplund, Olofsson and Smith have lit it up. What do we need to see from him before Opening Night for us to not pound that under on him like some of our analytics friends wound want us to? I really hope he is given the right conditions to build his confidence going forward. Podcaster and fantastic twitter follow Chris Ostrander tells me Mittelstadt will thrive with a decent winger like Tage Thompson. I’ll take his word on that for now. How about Lawrence Pilut? He is looking better than I expected since all the smart bloggers told me he’ll start in Rochester. Does he knock Nelson off of the defensive depth chart or are you just yelling Brendan Guhle at me at the top of your lungs? Let me know in the comments. Before I go off on my little closing diatribe on the Leafs, can we just note how good these Sabres looked against these Leafs? The younger Sabres have a lot of things the older ones have little of; transition, passing, checking, net-crashing, even speed. They had a level of compete against this star-studded Leafs squad that makes me feel really good about them. They were handed a lopsided matchup in terms of NHL experience tonight and they made a game out of it. They made a game out of it after five minutes had passed but they did! That’s something worth noting as the Training Camp roster is narrowed down.

So the Toronto Maple Leafs are certainly the one team in the NHL who have done the least with the most over the last fifty years but the Sabres don’t have one thing that the Leafs do: Stanley Cups; black and white Cups yes, but Cups nonetheless. As they get talked about as in contention to get one in high definition one might ask: when has the quality of these teams really matched up other than 18 months near the end of the twentieth century? That one East Final in 1999 seemed to be the only decisive moment in the history of this supposed rivalry. Yes, there are a few contentious regular season games and we both lay claim to Tim Horton but when has the rivalry mattered in the 49 years the Sabres have been within a 2 hour drive of Toronto? The answer is now. They’re good at the same time now. Certainly the Leafs have had their video game like luck drafting catapult them into regular playoff contention much sooner after their tank year than the Sabres. I’m not sure that’s anything more than bitterness from our perspective but in a world where Rasmus Dahlin is a Sabre I don’t think this rivalry will be dull for very much longer.

Tomorrow we’ll see the Leafs here in Buffalo and certainly a torrent of Leafs fans who wanted a team in Hamilton not too many years ago. All trash talk aside I do enjoy that the Niagara Peninsula gets Leafs Training Camp. Buffalonians may be quicker to exhort the virtue of the region than some Torontonians. Share this blog with your Canadian friends and all the other ones too. I am interested in any thoughts, negative or positive; you may have on this blog. I like to think I write well but spellcheck me if that’s what it takes for you to interact with the blog. Let’s do this again tomorrow night, eh?

Thanks for reading.

P.S. If you’re reading this, Steve Dangle, know that I love you and your work. Just like Auston Matthews, I love everything about you except for that Leafs logo.