Faction Rundown: The Fyffe Club

Welcome to my first Faction Rundown. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be looking at each of the factions in the Schmoedown to see how things are going for them in Season 5 of the Schmoedown. I will be looking at the titles they hold, the chances they have coming up and the general strength of each faction. At the end I will also be giving my personal ranking of the team based on how the season is going and the potential I see going forward. Today I will be starting with The Fyffe Club

Members: Emma Fyffe (manager), Marc Andreyko, Sam Witwer, Clarke Wolfe, Rachel Cushing

Current titles: Star Wars – Sam Witwer

History: The most recent of the big factions, the Fyffe Club came into existence as Marc Andreyko defected from the Lion’s Den to become Emma Fyffe’s first competitor and grant her access to the Manager Bowl at Schmoedown Spectacular. She quickly added to her stable by snapping up Sam Witwer following his title victory over Ken Napzok. Then, as Season 5 got going, Rachel Cushing’s new team the Shirewolves nailed their flag to Fyffe’s mast ahead of their victorious debut against the Lion’s Den.

Season 5 so far: Both individually and as a team, “The Crusher” and “Classy” Clarke Wolfe are having good seasons. The Shirewolves are 2-0 following victories against The Dreamcrushers and Team Action at the recent live event. Rachel earned herself a title match in the Singles Division following a Triple Threat match where she TKO’d JTE and KO’d Mike Kalinowski, but the Speed Round proved her undoing against Samm Levine and she was unable to get the win. Most recently, she returned to what she considers her strongest Division, the Innergeekdowm, where she KO’d debutante Markeia McCarty in the opening round of the currently ongoing Innergeekdom tournament. Clarke Wolfe’s first singles match of the season was the Number 1 Contender match “The Golden Mic” earned by winning the Manager Bowl and took full advantage of it, beating Kalinowski in a close-fought match before going on to lose to “The Inglorious One” in sudden death. “The Android” has been regularly there in support of his colleagues but has only played once so far this season – a victory over Ben Bateman – and as yet he has not had a teammate since he switched allegiances from Blofeld’s Cat and the Lion’s Den. While Emma Fyffe is arguably the manager of the season up to now, she has had a mixed start to the season in terms of competing. After being called out by The Viper Squad, she lost in Singles to Jeannine “The Machine” but got back to winning ways soon after with a victory over rival manager Jay Washington in the 1^st round of the Innergeekdom tournament. With only a handful of Star Wars matches each year, “The Warrior” is yet to play a match since his last second victory over Napzok at Schmoedown Spectactular II.

Future Prospects: Looking forward, the sky is the limit for some of these competitors. Rachel’s crushing of Markeia – including a strong Round 2 performance in the category of Star Trek – makes her my personal favourite for the Innergeekdom tournament and I think that a title match against Jason Inman would be impossible to call in advance. Wolfe is hungry for a belt but following her loss to Samm and with the Singles Division packed with so much talent at the moment, it may be a while before she gets another shot there. However the Shirewolves’ next match is a Number 1 Contender match against World’s Finest for a chance to face either Above The Line or the Patriots. I think the defending champions will have too much for the Shirewolves, but the wheel could easily work in their favour. I don’t see Fyffe regularly competing outside the Innergeekdom Division and honestly I don’t see her going much further in the tournament. Outside of a couple of categories, most notably Harry Potter, her knowledge seemed quite limited and I think the moment she comes up against a contender she will struggle to keep pace with them. Sam Witwer will be defending his belt against Alex Damon at Collision and I am honestly scared to call this one. Witwer is a beast at Star Wars trivia and is so strong at the quotes, a section which has tripped up some other competitors in the past, but Alex’s win at the live event was highly impressive – he only missed 1 question and 1 steal attempt – and I have seen him get answers in the past that have been missed by The Warrior. Andreyko is a difficult one to judge due to the lack of games. He has a good ranking in the Singles Division, but needs to play more often to hold onto the position. But what he really needs right now is a teammate, and I’m sure Emma Fyffe will be keeping an eye on any free agents to find someone right for the Fyffe Club.

Record this season (all divisions): 6-3          This is only taking into account matches as a member of the Fyffe Club. Rachel’s Number 1 Contender match was before she and Clarke Wolfe joined the faction, if we look at the full 2018 record for all competitors the record becomes 7-3

Mid-season Ranking: 1^st          The Fyffe Club have had a remarkable start to the season with only 3 losses (2 in title matches). They have a Number 1 Contender match and a title defence coming up in the near future and have 2 competitors through to the next round of the Innergeekdom tournament, with Cushing one of the favourites to win the tournament. A great start to the season and a good chance of continued success, I expect a regular presence in the Top 5 rankings of each Division.