Season 12 Election

[monorail]

It's good to be back.

Decrees - League-wide alterations to the rules of the Internet Blaseball League.

• Title Belt - Win the Championship to claim the Belt, then Defend it in Title Matches next Season. The Holder of the Belt is protected from Steals and Swaps and guaranteed a Postseason Birth. Should the Holder win the Championship, they will claim a Title.
• Pennants - The Champion of each season will play the following season under Pennants, starting every game at a severe disadvantage. Win the Internet Series under Pennants in order to Repent.
• Based Evolution - Every Third Championship a Team wins will cause the Team and its Players to Evolve. Players that round the phylogenic Bases will get to go Home.

Wills - Benefits offered to the Team. Two will be chosen democratically and awarded.

• Plunder - Steal a Player from the idols board, send a random Player from your Team back.
• Exchange - Swap a Player from a Team in the opposite Subleague with a Player from your Team.
• Foreshadow - Swap a Player from your Shadows to your active roster.
• Infuse - Boost a player on your Team by 15% to 30%.
• Trust - Receive a mystery Benefit for one of your Team's Players.
• Alternate - Call in an Alternate for a Player on your Team.
• Revoke - Revoke a Player from your Roster.
• Enrich - Pick a modification for your Team next season.

Blessings - A League-wide raffle for Benefits.

• Organ Replacements - Re-rolls your Team's 3 worst pitchers.
• Uncle Indemnity - Recruit the Hardboiled Uncle Plasma to your Team.
• The Big Sip - Recruit the Hardboiled Liquid Friend to your Team.
• Summoning Circle - Re-roll your Team's 3 worst hitters.
• Earlbirds - Your Team will play 20% better during next Season's Earlseason.
• Late to the Party - Your Team will play 20% better during next Season's Lateseason.
• Tag Team Pitching - Improve your team's pitching by 10%. The last place team in the opposite subleague also gets +10% team pitching.
• Tag Team Hitting - Improve your team's hitting by 10%. The last place team in the opposite subleague also gets +10% team hitting.
• Wind Sprints - Run. +15% Team Baserunning
• The Rack - [cartilage and bone snapping] +15% Team Defense
• The Best Defense - Is good offense. Swap your best hitting pitcher into your lineup.
• The Best Offense - Is good defense. Swap your best pitching hitter into your rotation.

[monorail]

My thoughts:

The Decrees this time around only affect the champions. We pretty much don't need to worry about that at all.

Wills are interesting but I don't have a lot of thoughts about them. They're absolutely worth considering because we are going to nab a couple, but other than the obvious "avoid Plunder, Exchange, Foreshadow and Revoke", I think I just don't have a lot to say about them.

As for Blessings, I think we have to gun for Best Offense. We've wanted 4 Star Pitcher Cell Barajas since even before the Grand Siesta and I don't see how we can justify not taking this chance. It's true that when we win, it's on the back of our defense, so arguably it's where we need the least help. But our offense is so weak, and in just the right way, that the process of fixing it is going to be a long, grueling one. It doesn't happen in a season.

Instead, I think we go hard for Best Offense, swap Cell into the position she was born (hundreds of times) for, and solidify our defense while we have this opportunity. Our pitchers are good but they're not great aside from Burke. If we could go from one pitcher who we can really rely on to two, I think that would be fantastic for us and would go a long way towards keeping us afloat while we look for opportunities to improve our hitters in the future.

I'm not going to suggest that anyone else follow me on this. In fact, I it's definitely a losing strategy in the long run. But I'm willing to go deep for this. I'll have to look at numbers towards the end of the season to see if it's likely to make a difference but, I may end up selling many of my Snacks and rebuilding over season 13. We've had very little luck with Blessings in the past. Pase lo que pase.

[thr33h3ad3ddragon]

Decrees

Don't like the concept of pennants but I've got a feeling it'll win on the back of any remaining crab-salt still hangin around but yeah decrees don't really matter.

Wills

Swaps are bad, Revoke is scary, Alternate could be disastrous on the wrong player, but other than that the options are fine, I don't really see much bad happening here and I'm not too worried. Honestly my only real worry is that some player who doesn't hang in the discord would see Case on the roster and go "oh maybe I should swap/revoke them."

Blessings

Four star pitcher Cell Barajas is a dream come true, from a lore and morale standpoint if nothing else. I'm a big fan of increasing our defense again though, and I think having a defense increase would make Raf (who is also a four star pitcher) more viable, so I'll probably split the two.

Only problem is that I think the +15% blessings are the most objectively positive blessings this time around, and will likely be some of the most sought after. I don't remember the old voting tallies so I can't estimate how popular Best Offense will be. Hopefully all the other teams go for Uncle Plasma and Liquid Friend or something

[Heron Baron]

Decrees

While I'm curious to see Evolve be relevant eventually, I won't be voting on any of these.

Wills

Plunder/Exchange/Foreshadow/Revoke are definitely a hard "no" and just reading them shunted me back into pre-siesta debates over not breaking up the band, for better and for worse

Definitely leaning towards Infuse for Case Sports to strengthen that Case/Summers duo - love to see that lawyer hit a single and get immediately sent home by a stiff breeze.

Trust is also a gamble I'm willing to make for the extremely low chance we get an active Fire Eater again/for the first time.

Enrich only makes sense in the extremely unlikely scenario we party HARD and in such a way we could amplify it the next season, which... I can't think of a specific scenario right now, but probably could come up with one later in the season. Again, unlikely, but, pase lo que pase.

Alternate, I'd need to be swayed on who should get it; the specificity of Wills in general makes me less likely to use votes on any of them - we're such a small team that a "mistake" could easily pass.

Blessings

4 star pitcher, baybee! Might fritter a few votes into the other guaranteed stat boosts in the hopes of a wimdy as well, but am avoiding rerolls, especially given the buggyness so far. Don't get me wrong, I think the reroll misfires of yesteryear are still hilarious but it's not something we can really afford.

[thr33h3ad3ddragon]

Season 12 sure has been happening to us huh

I have no current plans for where my votes are going so now I will just play it by ear ig, may just hold most of em