The Wizarding World is abuzz as the Inaugural OWL League season reaches the quarterfinals. Let's take a look at the competitors and matches.
@CRD
Time: Night
Weather: Cloudy
The Castles Gem Allocation
Cardiff Castle (City Mountain) - 1 Diamond, 2 pearls (5 points)
Castell Coch (Draconic Mountain) - 1 Diamond, 2 pearls (5 points)
Caerphilly Castle (Mountain) - 2 crystals, 1 pearls (5 points)
40-star Mexico City Moonlight will be going up against the 39-star Cardiff Dragons in Cardiff's triple-mountain arena, the Castles. After last week's impressive victory against the determined Busan Metropolitan Magicians, the Moonlight will once again be facing off against a mountain-heavy team. While Cardiff is favored, the relatively even gem allocations between paths allows for potential shenanigans around the assignment of magicians by the head sages. It may just be the Moonlight's time to shine, it is a night match after all.
New Ambrosias tattoo worn proudly by Cardiff local who witnessed the events
It appears that Cardiff's Dragon sagas might be over after a series of extensive and highly choreographed Dragon-oriented ceremonies involving Cardiff's Dragon, Ambrosias, and a series of dragons not seen outside their liars in decades. The Bright Lights over Cardiff incident last week saw scores of wyvern and three full dragons congregate in what the Dragon's heralds politely referred to as a "summit", but what actually appears to be a ceremony of dragon procreation. The summit culminated in a several hours of extreme light and heat threatening the QC9 - CRD OWL match along with the rest of the city. The light haze seen as far Liverpool lasted 13 hours and caused a heat wave in Cardiff. The Daily Horoscope thanks the preventative safety actions undertaken by local authorities and the MoM with the support of Cardiff Dragons' upper management and would additionally like to highlight the efforts of Quebec City Nine Stars' 3-star Druid, Lyra Ollivander, for her quick action and persistent guarding of a flock of sheep against a score of wyverns until help could arrive.
@HSL
Time: Night
Weather: Thunderstorms
Hollywood Hills Gem Allocation
Hollywood Sign (Luminous Mountain) - 1 diamond, 2 crystals (7 points)
Griffith Observatory (Astral Mountain) - 1 diamond, 1 crystal, 1 pearl (6 points)
Hollywood Bowl (City Valley) - 2 diamonds, 1 crystal (8 points)
This high gem match has our diviners all crossed! It seems too dangerous for either team to completely abandon a path, but also abandoning a path would allow for the teams to concentrate their forces on the slightly higher scoring paths. What a pickle! The 42-star Worcester Ravens will be facing the 43-star Hollywood Starlight in their home turf, at night, and in a thunderstorm. With the Starlight's roster very much oriented towards their home arena, it will take some exceedingly clever deployments by renown Head Sage, Edger Chronović for the Ravens to move on the semi-finals.
Meme circulating around Starlets/Raven's Nest Owl Twitter Communities
Two of the Magicians might be duking it out for something even more powerful than gems. OWL Twitter communities have dubbed this match, The Battle for Mom's Love, as it may see the showdown of siblings 5-star HSL Druid Aleksandra Copperfield and 3-star WSR Witch Arthur Copperfield. The 70- and 73-year old magicians (respectively) have been jokingly playing up the hype as well, but there's something about the tone of the twitter trolling that suggests Arthur may feel truly slighted. Aleaksandra Copperfield was one of the first athletes to score a $50M+ contract while Arthur is still on a negligible salary from his days before the league professionalized. "You cheap quack! You still split the bill when we get coffee at away games!" accuses Arthur. Aleaksandra has not responded specifically about the accusation of bill spliting but is reportedly satisfied with her sibling's irate state.
@Q35
Time: Night
Weather: Cloudy
Jackson Heights Gem Allocation
Long Island City (City Valley) - 2 diamonds (6 points)
Cavalry Cemetery (Astral Valley) - 1 crystal, 1 pearl (3 points)
Flushing Meadows Park (Plains) - 2 crystals (4 points)
The point spread of the arena concentrates in the the city valley of Long Island City, which strangely does not favor either team, as neither have any city magicians. Nevertheless, expect to see a fierce match on the path along the Hudson as even peeling of one of the two diamonds would keep the match competitive. The 39-star Queens 35ers are at home in Queens but will face stiff competition from the 42-star LC Verona, whose heavy sorcerer-druid makeup is ideal for Jackson Heights. This could be the closest match-up of the quarter finals.
Fan shirts for Head Sage Spiff circulating around NYC after their victory in the wildcard match
The larger showdown appears to be between the 35ers' notorious Head Sage Spiff and LC Verona's renowned Head Sage Josh. While both are well-respected, it appears that a cult following has emerged around Spiff. The spacemen have their on fan section now - wearing space costumes or a spiff mask shirt (see above) to collectively form an eclectic blob in the stadium - contrasting with the normally extremely fashionable 35ers fanbase. Meanwhile, confidence behind Head Sage Josh of LC Verona is high as Verona fans seem to expect the best from the Sage who largely avoids media attention. We'll see how the teams make out in this battle of wits, athleticism, and magic!
@KFCL
Time: Night
Weather: Windy
The Gates of Kyoto Gem Allocation
Fushimi Inari Taisha (Astral Mountain) - 1 crystals, 2 pearl (4 points)
Nijo Castle (Temporal Mountain) - 1 diamond, 1 crystal, 1 pearl (6 points)
Arashiyama (Wild Mountain) - 1 crystal, 1 pearl (3 points)
Kyoto Foxes LC is the favorite in their showdown against the Alexandria Sirens at home. The triple-mountain arena can be alienating visiting teams and the broad lack of specialization in the Sirens' ranks prevent any capitalization off of the paths three unique aspects. While the 45-star Sirens completely outstrips the raw power of 39-star Foxes, the Foxes know the terrain and are more adapted to it.
The Real Magicians of Alexandria logo
Practice may have gotten in the way of the ongoing filming of the behind-the-scenes drama of the Sirens magicians in The Real Magicians of Alexandria. Apparently the entire franchise pivoted to "serious mode" once they realized the magicians assembled by Hand of the Lord Noah had a shot in the post season. Enthralled audiences may just have to wait for the the next down season to witness more antics like team heartthrob Dafydd Spinner beginning practice by tearing his shirt off, or cameos like when Blackpool Bruxa's Mickie Dobbins' guest appearance led to a Bruxarade for-charity chug-off.
Here are the Astrological Favor rankings for the OWL Quarterfinals!
1 | Pisces (most favored)
2 | Aquarius
3 | Capricorn
4 | Sagittarius
5 | Scorpio
6 | Libra
7 | Virgo
8 | Leo
9 | Cancer
10 | Gemini
11 | Taurus
12 | Aries