H2H2 / SEA SERPENTS

People seem to be enjoying these, so I decided to post this next one a little sooner than I had planned to.

SEA SERPENTS

ROSTER:
NessyROS (captain) - Khalma Cove (W)
RRP - Khalma Cove (W) Indiana Ridge (L)
Roomraider (aka Gutterflower) - Falcon's Ridge (W) Clock Tower (W) Indiana Ridge (L)
Raven-SDI - Clock Tower (W)
Sboarder - Achilles' Hill (W)
Twisted - Falcon's Ridge (W)
JiMeMo - Achilles' Hill (W)
xMaverick
xThe Hive
xKyle

Before the season, you couldn't blame me if I didn't expect much out of this group. RRP of course is in a league of his own when it comes to realistic parks but one person can only do so much. Roomraider, another one of the three parkmakers on the team, always has a few tricks up his sleeve. Twisted is starting to come into his own as a parkmaker but still hasn't proven himself in a big way. That leaves a field of names who are good but not really elite. Comparing this roster with the Soutenours and the Mean Green, I don't think anybody expected them to make it to the playoffs. In actuality, the only loss for the team (not counting forfeits) came from their best two parkmakers. It's tough for any team to remain competitive when 3 out of 10 members don't participate at all.

PARKS:
W-Khalma Cove - RRP, NessyROS [LL] - 67%
W-Falcon's Ridge - Roomraider, Twisted [LL] - 77%
W-Achilles' Hill - SBoarder, JiMeMo [RCT2] - NO VOTE
W-Clock Tower - Raven-SDI, Roomraider [RCT2] - 78%
L-Indiana Ridge - RRP, roomraider [LL]- 22%

AVG: 61%

Something for everybody in this lineup. Three great LL parks with Khalma Cove one of my favorite parks in the whole season. Indiana Ridge was their only loss, but it too was very well done. Especially the innovative Snake Bite splitting coaster. The two RCT2 parks weren't the best in the season nor were they the worst. They were about average. So with only five completed parks, the Sea Serpents record when completing a park is 4-1. More than any other team, those forfeits killed them.

REPORT:

Starting out the Sea Serpents knew they were the underdogs. All the big names on the Mean Green and Soutenours must have looked imposing. But the Sea Serpents got off to a great start in week 2 with Khalma Cove by RRP and Nessy. Of course everyone knew RRP would produce something great. The real test would be what they came up with next.

They lucked out in week 3 with another early bye and came on strong in week 4 with a LL park from Roomraider and Twisted. The Soutenours didn't bring their best work to the competition that round and the Sea Serpents won soundly.

The Mean Green unexpectedly forfeited week 5 giving the Sea Serpents an imposing record of 3-0 at the halfway point. The Mean Green and Soutenours were both 1-3 at this point and the Sea Serpents became the early heroes of H2H2. They were the only undefeated team after 5 weeks. Week 6 found the undefeated Sea Serpents facing off against the winless Blue Meanies. Raven-SDI produced the first RCT2 park for his team and had no trouble defeating the very traditional Crystal Waters.

At 4-0 the Sea Serpents were not only the best team in H2H2, they were also a lock for the playoffs with three matches to go. They got a nice bye in week 7 to prepare for the last three weeks of the season. It was at this point that they got a little lazy and let their guard down. The Mean Green had forfeited to them in week 5, so in week 8 the Sea Serpents graciously returned the favor. Both teams had apparently made some unspoken agreement not to compete with each other. It wasn't until the Sea Serpents forfeited again in week 9 that people truly became concerned. Were people sick and dying in the Sea Serpents bullpen? Could they be as unorganized as the Blue Meanies? Were the Sea Serpents purposefully throwing matches to rest up for the playoffs? These were the questions people were asking about the once undefeated Sea Serpents. There was likely a change of leadership occuring around this time with Raven taking over in Nessy's absence that may have caused the lack of organization.

Once the toast of the town, the Sea Serpents were now viewed suspiciously going into the final week of competition. After giving up freebies to the Mean Green and Pufferfish, the Sea Serpents decided to have a little fun and go after the Icons (who were getting a little cocky at this point I must admit). They returned with avengence, unleashing a joint park by RRP and Roomraider. They should have won convincingly and rode off into the sunset. But Mortician shocked everybody by defeating the dynamic duo single handed. I can't explain why Livewires won by a landslide, perhaps it had something to do with all the pretty colors.

After that tough loss in week 10, the Sea Serpents finished the season with a record of 4-3. It was still the best record in their division, but only third best in H2H2. They advanced to the playoffs for a winner take all match against the Mean Green, but it was not meant to be. Either the Sea Serpents were still demoralized from that loss in week 10 or they really did have a pact not to compete with the Mean Green. Maybe the Grinch's henchmen busted all their kneecaps to ensure victory for the Mean Green machine. Maybe they threw the match like the 1919 White Sox. (Check their bank accounts) Or maybe they just weren't organized enough to get the job done under time pressure. Whatever the reason, the Sea Serpents are responsible for the lowest moment of H2H2, a playoff forfeit in an elimination round.

The Sea Serpents are an interesting story. First they were the underdogs who shocked everyone by going undefeated through week 7. Then they were the slackers who forfeited their season away. The Mean Green had produced a great park for their playoff round so it's likely the Sea Serpents would have been defeated anyway, but that's not the point. Forfeiting matches is bad for everybody. It's bad for the team who gets the loss and it's bad for the team that spent a lot of time on their park only to win by default. And it's bad for the viewers who don't get a competition that round. Hopefully we won't be seeing this many forfeits in H2H3. With the blemish of that last forfeit on their record, it's hard to see the Sea Serpents in a positive light. Considering their season as a whole though, they were really a surprising success. It's a shame they weren't more organized late in the season when it really mattered the most.

Other Team Summaries:
SOUTENOURS
BLUE MEANIES

They're kinda the opposite of the Blue Meanies in some respect. They won through to the play-offs very quickly, but then threw it all away, while Blue Meanies threw it all away very quickly, but won a lot of their later games.

It's a shame about the sicily round, but at least we all got to see that amazing Mean Green park, eh?

Indiana Ridge and Khalma Cove are two of the better parks from the whole competition, so Kudos to the Serpents on those. And JiMeMo for making a park! w00t!

Ed - i'm looking forward to the Pufferfish, Green and Icons write-ups, cos those three teams had quite a few strokes of genius (Miami, Purple Pills and Battlefield, anyone?)

These write ups are the most entertaining thing on the boards at the moment I think! Great job Ed they are really interesting I never really notcied that we never competed with the Sea Serpents, I suppose it was just a coincidence unless Fatha' really did have an agreement with them...

Good read. Very insightful as always. I'd like to see an H2H3 preview, if that won't be too much trouble.

I'd like to see an H2H3 preview, if that won't be too much trouble.

I'm working on one at the moment but I hope Ed is doing one as well, no doubt it will be a better read than mine and it will be interesting to see two peoples views on the teams, possible pairings etc, etc.

Heya
By the way i did work on the Clock Tower too but for some reason never got credit for it lol.

Our team really got me annoyed near the end lol. I had a mini park ready that although nothing special would of been better than a playoff forfiet
i reckon we had the potential to challenge the icons if people actually pulled their weight but we had very little organisation. And Nessy dropped out as captin leaving us even worse off lol.

ahhh well enough moaning.We didn't do too badly Lets get started with the next competition

nice review u got there ed, i really think that sums up are team in a nut shell.

Amazing....
...
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
-ly unorganised.

Awesome read! I'm glad I included a "Special Articles" section in the new H2H web site design. I was thinking of you when I put that button in.