Match of the Millennium

Over a course of just five rounds, the New Fighting Generation Sponsor Teams have selected their prospects for the upcoming New Fighting Generation season! The teams are as follows (NFG Point totals provided in brackets): -==TEAM METAL==- (30) NIXIE KENZO DJAMILA JOHN DOE -==TEAM BLAZE==- (26) COCO HAWKSLEY IRIS BRIAN STORM -==TEAM FROST==- (24) GENIE AYALA SARAH BUFORD -==TEAM THUNDER==- (24) ICHIKA CHEVY TAMAKI BUCK The teams will be facing off in mid-June in the first stop of the New Fighting Generation World Tour: Sunshine City!

TOM: "Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and all of our other friends! I'm Tom Bradley, and with me is Lou Harris! Since you've found our podcast, you probably know us from our commentary duties in the New Fighting Generation! LOU: "Yup! And this is the first episode of our NFG podcast: The Draft. On this podcast, we'll be discussing our thoughts on the New Fighting Generation, and for this episode, of course, we're focusing on the draft." TOM: "Indeed. For those who missed the live draft, you can find the footage on the NFG website." LOU: "Yup! For now we're going to go through each of the teams and share our feelings about how we think the draft went for them." TOM: "And why don't we start with Team Metal?" LOU: "Why don't we?" -==TEAM METAL==- (30) NIXIE KENZO DJAMILA JOHN DOE TOM: "So, first off, a reminder of Team Metal's final roster: Nixie, Kenzo, Djamila, and John Doe. You could say that Team Metal won the draft, Lou." LOU: "Sure, Tom, in the sense that they have the highest NFG points total, but the question is whether they'll be able to maintain their lead throughout the season. They did manage to snag the winner of the opening tournament uncontested, which was definitely surprising." TOM: "Like you said, Lou, the sponsors will have been thinking about who they thought would benefit the most from their training and who they see the most potential in." LOU: "Still, we thought for sure Nixie would be the most contested pick. Lyraelle from Team Thunder was clearly unhappy that she was overridden on the topic of contesting for Nixie." TOM: "They also attempted to contest for Buck, but lost the contest with Team Thunder." LOU: "Which seemed to be a running theme for the day - but we'll discuss that more when we talk Thunder. Overall, I think they came away pretty happy, considering they only lost one contest. It'll be interesting to see if the expertise of Arctel will help fighters like Nixie, Kenzo and Djamila up their game, considering they all make extensive use of tools in their styles." TOM: "That could definitely give them an edge. We don't know much about Metal's sponsors when it comes to fighting styles - with the exception of Corporal Minal Panesh - but they certainly seem to have the technological advantage. It'll be interesting to see how John Doe fits into their agenda as well - he seems to be the odd one out in this team." LOU: "They certainly won't have picked him without a reason, though. Not over Brian Storm!" (Continued in next post!)

TOM: "Why don't we talk about Team Blaze next?" LOU: "Sounds good to me!" -==TEAM BLAZE==- COCO HAWKSLEY IRIS BRIAN STORM TOM: "Now, here's a team that clearly has split agendas in the sponsors' ranks. We saw Zog the Hammer contest his own teammate in Mitsuru Tokugawa over their first round pick - effectively overruling her." LOU: "Indeed! It gave them a solid start, though, picking up Coco - who was worth a solid eight points and fared well in the bonus rounds - uncontested." TOM: "And Blaze also managed to pick up Hawksley uncontested. Somewhat surprising that he was their second choice, considering performances - after all, he eliminated Coco from the main tournament." LOU: "You heard the Hammer, though - he wanted to build his cutie collection." TOM: "I honestly have no idea what to make of that guy, but he definitely wasn't on the same page as Mitsuru. Team Blaze also failed in their attempt to contest for Tamaki." LOU: "I've heard that Lyraelle is considering a slander suit over the contents of Mitsuru's counter-pitch. Still, she can't be unhappy that she won." TOM: "They've also got something of a wildcard in Iris. It has yet to be seen how her magic will influence the competition." LOU: "I gotta say, this was one of my favourite final teams, if only because I get the feeling we'll be seeing plenty of backstage brawling between their own members." TOM: "I guess it's fitting that things get so heated between them, considering that they're called 'Team Blaze.'" (continued in next post!)

TOM: "So, that brings us to Team Frost." -==TEAM FROST==- GENIE AYALA SARAH BUFORD LOU: "Frost clearly had an agenda of their own. They went straight for Genie - Juri was pretty adamant about that. It looked like she and Mitsuru from Blaze were going to throw down until Zog overrode Mitsuru's first round pick." TOM: "They then contested Team Thunder for Chevy Beaumont, and despite how keen she seemed to be to work with Abigail, she chose to go with Team Thunder instead." LOU: "Nobody could stand up to Team Thunder when it came to the pitches. I was starting to wonder if there was some kinda mind control involved." TOM: "Maybe it's one of Lyraelle's secret powers." LOU: "That would explain a lot." TOM: "Any thoughts on the choice to go for Ayala after that?" LOU: "If there's a reason, Tom, it might well be top secret. Literally. Not that she did badly in the tournament. She seems like she could be great for marketing, and has some real primal power. If anything I would've expected her to end up on Team Blaze with Zog." TOM: "They then took Sarah uncontested, which was a solid move in terms of NFG Points, before claiming Buford, who's been... a controversial figure, to say the least." LOU: "Which could be why they went for him. Maybe they like controversy. Or maybe they think they can smooth out his rough edges." TOM: "Will there be anything left of him if they do that?" (continued in next post!)

-==TEAM THUNDER==- ICHIKA CHEVY TAMAKI BUCK TOM: "And finally, we have one of the most controversial teams in the draft, Team Thunder." LOU: "These guys fought for just about every pick - and won every time. But before that, they started off with a shocker by first-picking Kasumoto Ichika." TOM: "We've seen some volatility out of Ichika. She hasn't done a lot of winning in the tournament. However, she did perform well in the vehicle destruction round." LOU: "Yeah, and then she picked a fight with her own partner. But when your team's sponsors command enough respect to overrule Princess Lyraelle Lightheart, you know they've got to have a reason for who they pick. Thunder's sponsors apparently include an immortal, a respected martial arts master, and a shrine maiden, and the biggest name in broadcast combat couldn't pull rank on them." TOM: "I take your point. They clearly see something in Ichika to have chosen her first." LOU: "They then contested Chevy and managed to steer her away from working with her dream sensei. Actually, I wonder if recruiting Ichika was a tactical move to entice Chevy in round two." TOM: "That would be quite a chess move. Do you think they did the same thing with Tamaki and Buck?" LOU: "Tamaki was one I definitely knew Lyraelle would go for, but not necessarily so late in the game. She ticks all the right boxes for Lyraelle. Most importantly, 'darkstalker.'" TOM: "She did give quite an impassioned speech. Even I felt a bit moved. However, what came after that was downright unnerving." LOU: "Yeah, having a teenage girl accuse you of kidnapping and torturing her in the middle of a press event is never a good look. Not that it stopped Tamaki from joining her." TOM: "And do you think the accusations had any truth to them?" LOU: "Tom, you and I both know that I would not dare speculate about that. Let's just hope it doesn't lead to Lyraelle's removal from the New Fighting Generation program - unless it's true, I guess." TOM: "A dark thought, indeed. So, we know that Team Metal secured the most points in the draft, but who do you feel 'won' it?" LOU: "Well, I'm sure that Team Thunder thinks they did. They got everyone they set their sights on, and everyone on their team chose to be there. That's got to bode well for team synergy." TOM: "Very true. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how Team Metal performs - especially after Minal Panesh took down the opposition verbally during her sponsor pitch for Buck." LOU: "Team Blaze definitely weren't the only ones burning bridges. I think we'll have a much better view of the situation after the next event, though - the Team Showdowns!"