FireMercs Returns to the West
This coming weekend: Saturday July 6, and Sunday July 7, FireMercs returns to Flintridge Preparatory School in Los Angeles, CA, as the Western Region hosts FireMercs Invitational 2!.
Tournament Organizers
Natalie Stottler - Stanford
Dyllan Fernandez - USC
Participation
With sign-ups closed as of June 20, Firemercs boasts 133 registered participants. These players and captains come primarily from within the Western region, although players from all North American regions will be in attendance. Overall, members of 39 unique teams signed up to compete, including five of the Elite Eight teams from World Cup VI (UCLA, Northern Arizona University, The Lost Boys, Texas A&M University, and the University of Kansas. The real draft challenge isn't in picking from the powerhouse teams, though; it comes in the large turnout from teams that don't compete on a national scale. This includes the Long Beach Funky Quaffles, Hollywood Harpies, OC Obliviators, and Las Vegas Quid Pro Quo, just to name a few.
Tournament and Draft Format
The tournament will feature nine teams selected through a snake draft. Draft order was randomly drawn immediately prior to the draft on Saturday, June 22. Each team ended up with 14-15 players, captains included. Until midnight on Monday, June 24, captains were allowed to trade with each other. Day 1 will consist of a modified round robin of the nine teams, in which each team essentially plays in two separate 3-team pools, for a total of four games (each team plays two matches in both of their pools). The following day will see the conclusion of any unfinished games before the teams are seeded into a 9-team single elimination tournament. Firemercs is planning to be the first tournament to implement Rulebook 7, barring opposition by the captains after a full reading of the changes.
Captains
Chris Lock – Santa Barbara Blacktips
Chris hasn't been playing quidditch a long time, but as a starting keeper on the new Santa Barbara community team, he has had ample opportunities to play the top teams across the western region, especially those in the powerful Southern California Quidditch Conference (SCQC). As one of the newest captains, coordinating a team strategy could prove to be the most challenging aspect of his preparation for competition. However, as one of the fastest growing teams in the west, the Blacktips have already shown a fairly strong understanding of the game and boast a solid lineup of players, several of whom will be in attendance. Chris has the size to front a formidable defense, but will need some speed on his team to balance out his style of quaffle play.
Tony Rodriguez – The Lost Boys
Just like Chris, Tony is completing his first season, although you wouldn't know it from the impact he has made. After being introduced to quidditch at Comikaze, Tony quickly joined the Hollywood Harpies before eventually transferring to the Lost Boys. As the starting keeper for one of the most active teams in the SCQC, he has been able to see more quidditch in the past season than some teams see in several years. On top of that, playing on merc teams throughout the year and attending practices for several teams gives him an impressive knowledge of players for someone so new to the sport. Strategically, I expect Tony to play keeper all tournament, giving his team a huge advantage in the size department. Tony will certainly be the focus of his team's offense, which could be problematic towards the end of the tournament if he begins to lose steam.
Cooper Davis – Northern Arizona University Narwhals
As captain of NAU, one of the more underrated teams in the western region, Cooper is familiar with what it takes to produce an Elite Eight caliber team. Following the Narwhal formula, it takes an emphasis on teamwork, solid beating, great endurance, world-class seeking, and of course some #swag. Aside from expecting Cooper's team to have one of the most entertaining cheers, I expect them to also have some of the best on-pitch chemistry. As a chaser for NAU, I am interested to see if Cooper will carry the quaffle up the pitch himself, or if he will delegate that role to another player. That choice is the central decision in their team strategy, and determines whether we see an NAU half-pitch passing offense or something else entirely (like the charging keeper option used by most teams).
Jennifer Tran – University of Southern Alabama
Anyone who remembers last year's Firemercs remembers Jennifer Tran and her team, the Direwolves, and thanks to a last-minute addition of a 9th team, we are likely to see the Direwolves play once more, albeit with a different roster. Jennifer plays chaser and beater for the University of Southern Alabama (the other team USA), in addition to serving as the IQA's Southern Expansion Representative and the Alabama State Representative. Although she may be less familiar with the players out west, she certainly knows what it takes to assemble a solid team. As one of the only two non-Western captains, her knowledge of players likely doesn't extend to the many Southern California community teams that make up the majority of tournament roster, and could affect the cohesiveness of her player choices. As the only female captain, Jennifer can spend more of her top picks on male players, and can change her position to fill her roster's needs.
Dyllan Fernandez – University of Southern California
As both the defending champion and one of the tournament organizers, Dyllan is in the bizarre position of having won the first Firemercs after assembling all of the teams. With a new draft system in place, will Dyllan be able to repeat his turn as winning captain? With two years of experience playing with the Trojans and as a Firemercs tournament director, he has been able to see many of the players participating in this year's tournament. Despite his knowledge, Dyllan is not the primary ball handler for his team, so choosing the correct quaffle player to lead his offense is essential. Additionally, although he is quite fast, Dyllan is one of the smaller captains, so drafting enough size to his team will be necessary for its defense.
Dan Hanson / Steve DiCarlo – The Lost Boys
Either Dan or Steve alone has enough knowledge of the game to make an intimidating captain. Unfortunately for the rest of us, their conflicting work schedules mean that Dan can only play on Saturday, while Steve can only play on Sunday, allowing them to form a truly terrifying drafting pair. With both Dan and Steve graduating from major Northeast teams (Emerson and Hofstra, respectively) to found the Lost Boys, these two have more than twice as much combined experience as any of their opposing captains. While their experience definitely provides an advantage, I worry that having an extra cook in the kitchen could weaken the cohesiveness of their team selection. However, as far as captains go, I imagine that Dan and Steve will provide more of an on-pitch advantage than most in terms of leadership, strategy, and playing ability.
Tad Walters – Loyola University New Orleans
Tad is one of the wild cards of the tournament. As a frequent passenger on the “West is weak” train (as well as being the other non-western captain), it is hard to imagine Tad knowing too much about the Western region, aside from the most recognizable players and teams. Coming off a second place finish in D2 at this year's World Cup, Loyola has proven its worth as an up-and-coming team from a strong region, with Tad starting at chaser. From his frequent talk of “tackling nerds” and his region's MO, one can only imagine he is prepared for some physicality, and will assemble a team capable to delivering the hits, as well as receiving them. However, given the players available, I am interested to see if Tad's team will be more western or southwestern in its general strategy (the fact that there are noticeably distinct regional play styles makes me strangely excited).
Kevin Oelze – Silicon Valley Skrewts
Many teams don't give the Skrewts the credit they deserve. As somebody who has seen them play for the last three years, it's hard to express what a monumental change the team has undergone, much of which can be attributed to their captain, Kevin. He knows how to get the best from his players, especially when it comes to running a cohesive strategy, and will likely determine a game plan that uses all of his drafted teammates effectively. Although Kevin is not the swiftest player, he has been working on both his agility and passing, making him an intimidating distributor of the quaffle. He's played almost full tournaments for his team, but stepped back this season, thanks to many of his fellow Skrewts truly stepping up. The question is whether he will look for a sub, or if he expects to be his team's dedicated keeper.
Alex Browne – University of California, Los Angeles
Last, but hopefully not least, there is myself. For those of you who don't know me, I am a founding member of the UCLA quidditch team, and have been playing keeper for the last 4 years. Although I have never participated in a merc or fantasy tournament before, I like to imagine that my time spent with the Bruins has been more than enough to familiarize myself with players from established teams across the region. Now, I don't want to ruin my team's element of surprise, but as someone who has worked for several years to help develop UCLA's current style of play, expect to see many of those elements on display from my team. I like to be the ball handler for a lineup where every player is a threat to score, and like subbing evenly with another keeper who plays in a very different style, throwing opposing teams for a loop.
The teams have already been drafted and finalized after trades, and can be viewed here. Expect a full analysis of the teams in the coming days.