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      Draevin had never seen a demon summoned in the arena that could talk before. This demon was clearly a cut above most of the feral, blood thirsty demons that were more commonly used. Not only could it speak, but it was also smart enough to think tactically. When the crowd started shouting in alarm and pointing to the sky it looked up in time to see the boulders before they landed. It quickly leapt out of the way.
      Just before the boulders hit the ground and missed their target there was a crackling of pops as Hanu teleported around and adjusted the trajectory of his projectiles. The level of precision necessary was mind-boggling: Hanu had to land on high speed projectiles midflight, if he was off by the slightest amount he’d miss or lose a finger. He made what looked to Draevin like close to a dozen teleportations in the space of a single heartbeat. His vocomancy-glove was proving itself to be a truly powerful item with this first appearance in the arena. The demon was unable to get out of the way of Hanu’s improvised meteors. When it realized it wouldn’t be able to dodge Hanu’s attack, the demon brought up its oversized blade in the last moments to block the boulders.
      A cloud of dust enveloped the demon as the first boulder stuck home. The roar of the crowd was overwhelmed by the thunder crack of the impact. Draevin could make out just enough through the cloud of dust to see the demon was still standing before the second boulder hit. Two more deafening explosions followed soon after as the next two boulders landed. The crowd held their breath as they waited to see what remained of the demon. Maeve didn’t immediately call the match.
      Hanu landed near the edge of the arena boundary as far from his opponent as he could get while he waited to see the result of his attack. Draevin heard someone shout from his right, “You can do this, Hanu!” Though he hadn’t been physically exerting himself, the eldrin did seem winded from the exchange.
      The sudden roar of the demon announced that it was still standing and through the cloud its black blade swung in a wide arch to dissipate the dust. As the demon came in sight again it appeared one of its shoulders was cracked and there was more glowing red ichor showing between the black demon-hide, but it was wielding its blade in the opposite arm. “Dᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴋɪʟʟ ᴀ ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇ ᴏғ Hᴇʟʟ sᴏ ᴇᴀsɪʟʏ, ᴛᴀɪɴᴛᴇᴅ ᴏɴᴇ!”
      The demon charged Hanu’s location, and though it didn’t move as swiftly as it had before, it was still many times faster than a creature of its size had any right to move. Rather than wait for it to reach him, Hanu popped away and appeared on the creature’s shoulder. Still wielding fists wrapped in protective barriers he slugged the demon in the side of the head twice. He landed heavy impacts that cracked the black skin open, then popped away when the demon tried to swat him off.
      Rather than retreat, Hanu appeared on the demon’s opposite shoulder and slugged it once more. When the demon tried to grab him again he appeared on its head. He grabbed one of the tines on its crown of bones and tried to wrench it off. The demon howled and grabbed at Hanu with its uninjured arm, dropping its blade to do so. Before it could reach him, Hanu pulled off the piece of horn and popped away again. The crowd roared their approval at the demon’s misfortune.
      He couldn’t be stopped! Pop. Hanu appeared behind the demon and jabbed the piece of horn into the back of its knee. Pop. Hanu fell through the air and landed a double-fisted thrust on the bridge of the demon’s nose. Pop. While it gnashed the air ineffectively with its teeth he appeared on the back of its hand and used both arms to wrench one of its fingers painfully to one side. Pop. He was on its back trying to rip off one of its burnt wings. Pop. He appeared in front of it and did a backflip that landed a kick to the center of its groin. Pop. He jabbed it in the eye. Pop. A two-fisted slam to one wrist. Pop. A jab to the throat.
      The demon was fast, but nothing was as instantaneous as teleportation. Hanu was as fast as thought. The demon struggled and twisted but was always a moment too late to catch him. By this point the demon was literally seething with rage: puffs of flame coming with each breath. “Eɴᴏᴜɢʜ!” It roared. It retrieved its blade and it plunged it into the ground. A shockwave of hellfire exploded in all directions and engulfed the entire arena in a giant swirling tornado of fire.
      Draevin didn’t see whether Hanu was caught in the blast, but he heard a shout from the crowd saying, “He’s in the sky!” He looked up and saw Hanu falling from the sky wreathed in flames. Hanu flailed for a moment while the demon leapt to catch him out of the air. Pop. Hanu appeared on the ground closest to the box Draevin was watching from. He was furiously batting at the flames on his gloves. He barely quenched them and looked up in a panic to see the demon’s massive blade descending on him. Pop. He was gone. This time he didn’t reappear.
      The bell chimed. “Hanu has left the arena,” Maeve announced. “The demon wins.”
      The crowd didn’t cheer. Instead, a murmur rippled through the air as everyone questioned what had just happened. Draevin couldn’t help adding to it. “I thought Hanu was going to win. Why would he abandon the match like that?”
      “You didn’t see?” Peter asked. “The enchantment on his glove was destroyed by the fire.”
      “That doesn’t make any sense,” Tenna said. “How did he teleport away that last time then?”
      “Easy,” Peter said while clicking the dial on the side of his glasses. “The glove wasn’t what was teleporting him. The glove was only fueling his spells. Without it I estimate he only has enough mana in his body to teleport two, maybe three times. Vocomancy is expensive.”
      “Oh come on now,” Draevin said dryly. “That’s a wild theory, even for you Peter. The glove was probably still functional.”
      “I know what I saw,” Peter answered firmly. “His mana levels never dropped when he teleported until the last two times. I think he was using that glove to hide his mastery of vocomancy.”
      “Why would he need to do that?” Tenna asked. “If everyone knows he can anyways teleport then what advantage would it even give him?”
      Peter pursed his lips. “Because he’s not suicidal,” he muttered too quietly for Tenna to hear.
      “A word of advice to everyone,” a voice announced from behind them. It was Sylnya. “Never bet on an eldrin! I can’t believe he conceded that easily!” Sylnya came into the box and saw there wasn’t room for her on the bench. “Oh hey, Tenna.”
      “Wʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ʜᴇ? Bʀɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀʟʟ Tʀᴜɴᴅʟᴇ ᴏʀ I ᴡɪʟʟ ᴋɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴏᴛʜ!” the demon’s voice called across the arena. Draevin’s attention was immediately directed to where the demon was arguing with a pair of particularly unlucky acolytes. Unsurprisingly, the demon prince wasn’t satisfied with merely winning its match.
      Whatever the acolytes told it seemed to be the wrong answer. Between one heartbeat and the next they were reduced to a red smear on the end of its massive blade. It was about to learn the hard way how the Guild handled contestants that murdered their own.
      “Fuck!” Sylnya cursed. “It fucking killed them. They need to get that thing under control before it—”
      The demon held out a hand and all the blood in the bodies of the dead acolytes sucked into it. In moments all the cracks of damage on the creature’s black skin that Hanu had managed to form healed up. It charged a nearby pair of armored guards next. The guards managed to raise a purple barrier to block the demon’s blade just before it struck. There was a loud crack as the barrier exploded from the force of the blow.
      The demon was on a rampage and the blood from its victims was only going to feed it more. Last time something like this had happened the mysterious orc, Gro’shak, had intervened. Draevin looked to where he was sitting. It didn’t look like there would be a repeat performance this time though; his bodyguard was in the process of physically escorting him from the arena.
      With the barrier protecting the demon’s next victims gone, it raised its weapon to finish them off. Then it froze. The muscles under its skin rippled, but the creature didn’t bring its weapon down. The guards quickly retreated.
      “Sonomancy,” Peter announced while fiddling with his glasses. He pointed towards the judge’s stand where Maeve could be seen floating towards the demon in her little red dress.
      “Contestant Bar’azath!” Maeve’s enhanced voice reverberated around the arena with more authority than usual. “Your behavior is unbecoming of a contestant of this tournament! By attacking members of the Guild you have lost the privilege of freedom for the duration of this year’s competition.”
      The demon twitched and strained against whatever hold Maeve had on it, but did not escape. “Gɪᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴍʏ ᴘʀᴇʏ. I ᴄᴀʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴇᴛɪᴛɪᴏɴ. Mʏ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴡɪᴇʟᴅ ᴛʜᴇ Cᴏɴꜰʟᴜx.”
      “Your cooperation is not required. As a member of the ruling council of the Guild I have witnessed you commit a murder of a member of our order and hereby find you guilty.” Maeve landed gently on the ground before the demon. Draevin had never seen Maeve wield so much power directly before. He’d heard that she’d competed and won the tournament long before he’d been born, but this was the first show of strength that validated those stories. Why she’d given up her chance to compete for a position in the Guild if she was this powerful was beyond Draevin’s understanding.
      Rather than answer Maeve, the demon shot a ball of hellfire from its mouth at her. She sliced downwards with one arm as though shooing an annoying fly. The hellfire splashed to either side of her harmlessly. She responded by opening her mouth and shrieking at the demon with a piercing cry so loud it had everyone in the arena clutching their ears. She only stopped when the demon dropped to the ground unconscious. In the shrill silence that followed she commanded some nearby acolytes to “take him to the holding cell” and floated back to her spot in the judge’s stand. The crowd gave her a smattering of applause.
      “There will be a brief intermission while the Guild prepares for the next match,” Maeve announced in her usual manner, as though there were nothing amiss about a murderous demon advancing to the next round. “Kaumirgunri and Boom’ba, please make your way to the stage.”
      Draevin’s ears were left ringing. Peter rubbed his temples and asked, “Just how strong is Maeve, exactly?”
      “I don’t know much about demons,” Sylnya answered, “but Maeve is definitely one of the strongest wizards in the world.”
      “She’d probably give Ka a run for his money if they ever fought,” Draevin commented. “What were we even talking about before that happened? I completely forgot.”
      “Whether or not Hanu is a master vocomancer in disguise,” Tenna answered.
      “That doesn’t matter,” Sylnya said seriously. “We need to talk Caelnaste. Right the fuck now.”
      “That’s right,” Draevin said. “You left me a note this morning saying you were stalking her or something but she was waiting for me right here when I got here. She made some kind of play to take our booth away but Peter got rid of her.”
      “Peter?” Sylnya said. “You mind explaining how she got past me? It was your plan. I followed it to the letter and Kot was waiting to cut her off. She must’ve had some hidden third route or teleported if Draevin met her here. There’s no way I wouldn’t have seen her.”
      “What’s this about a plan?” Draevin asked. He looked at Peter accusingly. “You asked me where Sylnya was when you got here like you didn’t know!”
      Peter shrugged. “You never know who could be listening. I didn’t want to give any indication that I was involved.” He turned to Sylnya. “You’re saying she didn’t take either route? How likely was that? Could it just be a coincidence?”
      Sylnya shook her head. “No. No way. She had to have seen it coming.”
      “Come to think of it,” Draevin added, “she gave me one of her cocky smirks on the way out of the booth this morning. I don’t want to be the one jumping to paranoid conclusions, but—”
      “No, you’re right,” Peter said. He frowned. “I think Caelnaste finally figured out humans were throwing off her predictions. We might be in trouble guys.”
      “You’ve got a plan though, right?” Draevin asked. “You’re the plan guy. There’s got to be something we can do. We can’t have a seer with the kind of resources at her disposal trying to kill me.”
      “Wait, is Caelnaste trying to kill us?” Tenna asked all of a sudden.
      “Try to keep up, Ten,” Sylnya told her. She then slugged Draevin in the shoulder. “And technically we would be fine; she’s only after Drae for some reason.” She let out some of the tension by laughing and Draevin joined her nervously.
      “Well there is still one more thing we can try,” Peter said. “We can try asking Istven for help.”
      “What? That’s crazy! He’s crazy!”
      A sudden swirl of inky blackness swirled at Peter’s feet and Istven rose from the human’s shadow like he was stepping out of a pool of water. “Now now, Draevin. Is that any way to speak about an invaluable ally like myself?”
      Draevin looked at Peter in annoyance. “Very funny, Peter. I know Istven isn’t capable of using Shadow Step. I’ve watched his matches for years.”
      “It’s not me,” Peter said. “Honest.”
      Draevin reached out a hand and touched something firm. It felt very much like the fabric of the black tunic Istven was wearing. Istven just chuckled.
      “What?” Draevin reached out his other hand and smacked Peter lightly in the face.
      “I’m real too,” Peter assured him. “I’ve got to save my mana for my match later today.”
      Istven wrapped Draevin’s wrist in an iron-tight grip and removed the hand from his chest. “Now that that is settled, let us get down to business. It seems I am suddenly your only hope of survival, Draevin.” The Black Prince of Eldesia smiled at the assorted group of wizards. “I have had my ear to the ground all morning. Some of my new… skills, got me past the Guild’s defenses. You will all want to hear what I learned.”
      “What new skills?” Draevin asked. “And what did you hear?”
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Today at 18 CET both the Greek Legends League (Greece&Cyprus) and the Superliga (Spain) leagues kick off, lots of roster changes in both leagues and definitely lots of action. Most interesting matches are the first one in SL with MADM vs BTS and the last one in GLL with WLG vs TP, all four looking to make the first step towards EU Masters.
Tomorrow is a big day in the ERL landscape as Ultraliga (Poland), Prime League (DACH aka Germany&co), NLC (UK & Nordics) and LFL (France) all kick off their 2021 season. Lots of big names, big storylines, big matches and lots of former and probably future LEC players on many teams.
Also the Belgian League continues from last week today at 19 CET, Dutch League continues tomorrow and PG Nationals (Italy) on wednesday.
Your best bet to follow this madness is to check all the Leagues out on Leaguepedia, as they have all the rosters and streamlinks. Also worth checking this thread by laaxus about LFL and these two interviews by megalodontus about GLL/LPLOL/DL/BL/PGN. If you want to know more about the latest roster changes or want to predict, watch and discuss the games with other ERL fans, also check out the unofficial ERL/LEC discord: https://discord.gg/HrvUEVC

Philadelphia Eagles (4-9-1) vs Dallas Cowboys (5-9)

As of this writing, the Eagles still have a shot to win the division, which is fortunate or unfortunate depending on what side of that argument you are on, however for that to happen the Redskins have to lose and the Eagles will have to take care of business tomorrow vs the Cowboys to keep that hope alive. The job will not be as easy as the first win where Andy Dalton missed the game and the Eagles faced Ben Narducci. Additionally the Eagles secondary is more banged up this time around. However offensively the Eagles will also look different as they will have Sanders and Desean Jackson who missed the first contest, but perhaps the biggest change will be at QB where Jalen Hurts will be making his 3rd start for the Eagles after two impressive outings vs the Saints and the Cardinals. Hurts will face a Cowboys defense that has been playing much better of late especially at causing turnovers and getting to the QB. Hurts will need to keep what he has been doing and escaping the pocket when he feels it closing on him and getting rid of it when he needs to. I think this game will come down to protecting the football and establishing the run, whichever team can do that should take the W and keep their playoff hopes alive with a Redskins loss.

General Information
Posting Rules and Guidelines
Remember to join us on Discord during the game!
New to the Eagles? Take a look at our New Fan Page!
Score Prediction Contest

Date
Sunday, December 27th, 2020

Game Time	Game Location
4:05 PM - Eastern	AT&T Stadium
3:05 PM - Central	1 AT&T Way
2:05 PM - Mountain	Arlington, TX 76011
1:05 PM - Pacific	Wikipedia - Map

Weather Forecast
Stadium Type: Retractable Roof
Surface: Grass
Temperature: 72°F
Feels Like: 72°F
Forecast: Clear. Windy in the morning.
Chance of Precipitation: 0%
Cloud Coverage: 6%
Wind: Northwest 12 MPH

Betting Odds
Oddsshark Information
Favorite/Opening Line: Eagles -2.5
OveUnder: 49.5
Record VS. Spread: Philadelphia 5-9, Dallas 4-10

Where to Watch on TV
FOX will broadcast Sunday’s game to a regional audience. Kenny Albert will handle the play-by-play duties and Jonathan Vilma will provide analysis. Shannon Spake will report from the sidelines.
TV Map - Week 16 TV Coverage Map

Radio Streams
List of Eagles Radio network member stations with internet broadcast availability
Radio.com 94.1 Desktop Streaming

Listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick
Calling the game on 94WIP and the Eagles Radio Network will be Merrill Reese, the NFL’s longest-tenured play-by-play announcer (44th season). Joining Reese in the radio booth will be former Eagles All-Pro wide receiver Mike Quick, while Howard Eskin will report from the sidelines.

Location	Station	Frequency
Philadelphia, PA	WIP-FM	94.1 FM and 610 AM
Allentown, PA	WCTO-FM	96.1 FM
Atlantic City/South Jersey	WENJ-FM	97.3 FM
Levittown, PA	WBCB-AM	1490 AM
Northumberland, PA	WEGH-FM	107.3 FM
Pottsville, PA	WPPA-AM	1360 AM
Reading, PA	WEEU-AM	830 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD	WAFL-FM	97.7 FM
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA	WEJL-FM	96.1 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD	WAFL-FM	97.7 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD	WEJL-AM	630 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD	WBAX-AM	1240 AM
Williamsport, PA	WBZD-FM	93.3 FM
Wilmington, DE	WDEL-FM/AM	101.7 FM
York/LancasteHarrisburg, PA	WSOX-FM	96.1 FM

Philadelphia Spanish Radio
Rickie Ricardo and Bill Kulik will handle the broadcast in Spanish on Mega 105.7 FM in Philadelphia and the Eagles Spanish Radio Network.

Location	Station	Frequency
Philadelphia, PA	LA MEGA	105.7 FM
Allentown, PA	WSAN	1470 AM
Atlantic City, NJ	WIBG	1020 AM; 101.3 FM

Dallas Radio

Dallas Cowboys Radio Network Brad Sham returns for his 42nd season in the Dallas Cowboys radio booth. Beloved by Cowboys fans, Sham's award winning play-by-play has provided the soundtrack to many of the most memorable moments in Dallas Cowboys history. Babe Laufenberg returns as the Network's full-time color analyst. A fixture on the sideline, veteran reporter Kristi Scales provides instant updates from the field.

National Radio
NA

Satellite Radio

Station	Eagles Channel	Cowboys Channel
Sirius Radio	SIRI 137 (Streaming 825)	SIRI 83 (Streaming 823)
XM Radio	XM 380 (Streaming 825)	XM 225 (Streaming 823)
Sirius XM Radio	SXM 380 (Streaming 825)	SXM 225 (Streaming 823)

Eagles Social Media	Cowboys Social Media
Website	Website
Facebook	Facebook
Twitter	Twitter
Instagram	Instagram
Snapchat: Eagles	Snapchat: cowboys

NFC East Standings

NFC EAST	Record	PCT	Home	Road	Div	Conf	PF	PA	Net Pts	Streak
Football Team	6-8	.429	3-4	3-4	3-2	4-6	302	295	+&	1L
Cowboys	5-9	.357	3-4	2-5	1-3	4-6	339	433	-94	2W
Giants	5-9	.357	2-5	3-4	3-2	4-7	122	311	-67	2L
Eagles	4-9-1	.321	3-3-1	1-6	2-2	4-6	163	361	-58	1L

Series Information
The Dallas Cowboys lead the Philadelphia Eagles (69-54)
Series History
Head to Head Box Scores
First Game Played
September 30th, 1960 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX. Dallas Cowboys 25 - Philadelphia Eagles 27
Points Leader
The Dallas Cowboys lead the Philadelphia Eagles (2659-2424)
Coaches Record
Doug Pederson: 4-5 against the Cowboys
Mike McCarthy: 4-2 against Eagles
Coaches Head to Head
Doug Pederson vs Mike McCarthy: McCarthy leads 2-0
Quarterback Record
Jalen Hurts: Against Cowboys: 0-0
Andy Dalton: Against Eagles: 2-0
Quarterbacks Head to Head
Jalen Hurts vs Andy Dalton: First Meeting
Records per Stadium
Record @ Lincoln Financial Field: Cowboys lead the Eagles: 10-8
Record @ AT&T Stadium: Series tied: 6-6

Rankings and Last Meeting Information
AP Pro 32 Ranking
Eagles No. 22 - Cowboys No. 24
Record
Eagles: 4-9-1
Cowboys: 5-9
Last Meeting
Sunday, November 1st, 2020
Eagles 23 - Cowboys 9
Despite committing four turnovers and being held to a season-low seven first half points, Wentz and the Eagles bumbled their way to a crucial division win over an injury-ravaged Dallas Cowboys team led by rookie quarterback Ben DiNucci. The Cowboys opened the scoring on the game's opening drive with a 49-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein. After a fumble by Wentz gave the Cowboys the ball back, the Eagles regained possession on a DiNucci fumble and took a 7–3 lead on Jalen Reagor's first career touchdown reception. The Cowboys responded with another Zuerlein field goal following Wentz's second fumble, and took a 9–7 halftime lead on a 59-yard field goal (mirroring the halftime score in Dallas in 2017, also played on Sunday Night Football). On the Eagles' second-half opening drive, Wentz would be picked off by Cowboys rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs, who returned the ball to the Dallas 31, but the Cowboys failed to capitalize when Zuerlein's ensuing 52-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right. The Eagles used the momentum swing to regain the lead 15–9 on a 9-yard Travis Fulgham touchdown reception. In the fourth quarter, T.J. Edwards strip-sacked DiNucci, and the ensuing fumble was recovered and returned 53 yards for a touchdown by Rodney McLeod. With the 23–9 win, Philadelphia improved to 3–4–1 on the season heading into their Week 9 bye.
Click here to view the Video recap
Click here to view the Stats Recap

Last 10 Meetings

Date	Winner	Loser	Score
11/1/2020	Eagles	Cowboys	23-9
12/22/2019	Eagles	Cowboys	17-9
10/20/2019	Cowboys	Eagles	37-10
12/9/2018	Cowboys	Eagles	29-23
11/11/2018	Cowboys	Eagles	27-20
12/31/2017	Cowboys	Eagles	6-0
11/19/2017	Eagles	Cowboys	37-9
1/1/2017	Eagles	Cowboys	27-13
10/30/2016	Cowboys	Eagles	29-23
11/8/2015	Eagles	Cowboys	33-27

Injury Reports	Depth Charts
Eagles	Eagles
Cowboys	Cowboys

2020 “Expert” Picks
Week 16 - "Expert" Picks

2020 Team Stats
Eagles Season Stats
Cowboys Season Stats

2020 Stats (Starters/Leaders)

Passing

Name	CMP	ATT	PCT	YDS	TD	INT	RAT
Hurts	49	89	55.1%	647	5	1	92.3
Dalton	165	256	68.0%	1549	11	6	85.6

Rushing

Name	ATT	YDS	YDS/G	AVG	TD
Sanders	149	810	73.6	5.4	5
Elliott	211	832	64.0	3.9	5

Receiving

Name	REC	YDS	YDS/G	AVG	TD
Fulgham	35	497	45.2	14.2	4
Cooper	82	952	68.9	11.6	5

Sacks

Name	Sacks	Team Total
Graham	7.0	44
Lawrence	5.5	26

Tackles

Name	Total	Solo	Assist	Sacks
Singleton	98	62	36	1.0
Smith	133	74	59	1.5

Interceptions

Name	Ints	Team Total
Singleton/McLeod/Mills/Riley/Epps	1	5
Diggs2	7

Punting

Name	ATT	YDS	LONG	AVG	NET	IN 20	TB	BP
Johnston	66	2909	66	47.7	41.3	21	5	0
Niswander	16	759	58	47.4	43.6	7	1	0

Kicking

Name	ATT	MADE	%	LONG	PAT
Elliot	18	13	72.2%	54	20/22
Zuerlein	34	27	79.4%	59	28/31

Kick Returns

Name	ATT	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Scott	25	532	21.3	46	0
Pollard	29	705	24.3	67	0

Punt Returns

Name	RET	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD	FC
Ward	17	116	6.8	22	0	17
Lamb	21	168	8.0	27	0	7

League Rankings 2020

Offense Rankings

Category	Eagles Stat	Eagles Rank	Cowboys Stat	Cowboys Rank
Total Offense	332.9	22nd	366.4	15th
Rush Offense	125.6	10th	109.2	19th
Pass Offense	207.4	27th	257.1	11th
Points Per Game	21.6	25th	24.2	18th(t)
3rd-Down Offense	37.0%	29th	40.5%	20th
4th-Down Offense	41.6%	27th	53.3%	18th(t)
Red Zone Offense (TD%)	62.5%	14th	53.5%	26th

Defense Rankings

Category	Eagles Stat	Eagles Rank	Cowboys Stat	Cowboys Rank
Total Defense	360.9	20th	383.6	24th
Rush Defense	125.6	23rd(t)	161.8	32nd
Pass Defense	235.1	16th	221.8	8th
Points Per Game	25.8	21st	30.9	31st
3rd-Down Defense	37.2%	6th	49.2%	29th
4th-Down Defense	38.9%	4th	47.4%	12th
Red Zone Defense (TD%)	65.8%	25th	62.8%	16th(t)

Team

Category	Eagles Stat	Eagles Rank	Cowboys Stat	Cowboys Rank
Turnover Diff.	-7	27th(t)	-6	25th(t)
Penalties/Game	6.4	24th	6.1	22nd
Penalty Yards/Game	49.8	18th	51.3	21st(t)

Connections
Eagles S Jalen Mills was born in Dallas and grew up in DeSoto, TX and went to Desoto High School.
Cowboys DB Coach Al Harris played 5 seasons for the Eagles from 1998-2002.
Cowboys DT Justin Hamilton played one season for the Eagles in 2017.
Cowboys Assistant Director of Video Stephen Gagliardino began his NFL career in 1995 as a ball boy with the Philadelphia Eagles when he was 16 years old, working training camp and game days at Veterans Stadium. He did that for four seasons before moving over to the Eagles video department in 1999, where he worked full time as an intern for three seasons (1999-2001).
Many Cowboys fans were born and raised in the Greater Philadelphia Area, however have no ties to Dallas nor have ever been to the city.
Eagles DT Fletcher Cox and Cowboys QB Dak Prescott played together at Mississippi State University when Prescott was a red shirt freshman.
Eagles OT Lane Johnson is from Groveton, TX and has family who are Cowboys fans including his grandmother who was told “Shut up, if you want to see 75” while she was rooting for the Cowboys.

2020 Pro Bowlers

Eagles	Cowboys
DT Fletcher Cox (Starter)
DE Brandon Graham (Starter)
C Jason Kelce (Starter)

General
Referee: Shawn Smith
Jalen Hurts is the only QB in NFL history to amass 500+ passing yards and 150+ rushing yards in their first 2 career starts (Week 14 vs. New Orleans – 167 passing, 106 rushing; Week 15 at Ar-izona – 338 passing, 63 rushing). In Week 15 at Arizona, Hurts became the first Eagles QB to register 300+ passing yards, 3+ passing TDs and 1+ rushing TDs in a single game since Michael Vick on 11/15/10 at Washington.
Fletcher Cox (T-5th among NFL DTs with 6.5 sacks this season) has collected all of his six career Pro Bowl nods in the last six seasons, tying Pete Pihos (1951-56) for the 2nd-longest streak in franchise history, behind Reggie White (seven, 1987-93). His six Pro Bowls are also the most ever by an Eagles DT.
Jason Kelce now owns the most Pro Bowl selections (four) by a center in Eagles history as well as the 2nd-most by any offensive lineman in team history, trailing only Jason Peters (seven). Kelce has started 103 consecutive regular-season contests, which is the longest active streak among NFL centers.
Brandon Graham has earned his first career Pro Bowl honor after leading the Eagles defense in sacks (7.0), TFLs (12) and QB pres-sures and hits (36) through 14 games. He is one of only three NFL players with 7.0 sacks, 12 TFLs and 2 FFs this season (also Haason Reddick and Za’Darius Smith).

Draft Picks

Eagles	Cowboys
WR Jalen Raegor	WR CeeDee Lamb
QB Jalen Hurts	CB Trevon Diggs
LB Davion Taylor	DT Neville Gallimore
S K’Von Wallace	CB Reggie Robinson II
OT Jack Driscoll	C Tyler Biadasz
WR John Hightower	DE Bradlee Anae
LB Shaun Bradley	QB Ben DiNucci
WR Quez Watkins
OT Prince Tega Wanogho
LB/DE Casey Toohill

Notable Off-season Additions

Eagles	Cowboys
S Will Parks	QB Andy Dalton
DT Javon Hargrave	TE Blake Bell
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman	OT Cameron Erving
CB Darius Slay	DE Aldon Smith
	CB Maurice Canady
	K Greg Zuerlein

Notable Off-season Departures

Eagles	Cowboys
S Malcom Jenkins	WR Tavon Austin
CB Ronald Darby	WR Randall Cobb
RB Jordan Howard	WR Devin Smith
WR Nelson Agholor	TE Jason Witten
OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai	OL Cameron Fleming
LB Kamu Grugler-Hill	C Travis Fredrick
RB Darren Sproles	DE Michael Bennett
DT Timmy Jernigan	DE Kerry Hyder
LB Nigel Bradham	DE Robert Quinn
	DT Maliek Collins
	DT Christian Covington
	DT Daniel Ross
	CB Byron Jones
	S Jeff Heath
	K Kai Forbath

Milestones
Eagles DE Vinny Curry (29) needs 1 sacks to move up to 18th on the Eagles all-time sack list tying DT Jerome Brown

Food for Thought
Dallas' Existential Connection to Philadelphia
::Movie Trailer Guy:: "In a world where people thought having someone named *Dallas Goedert on the Eagles was awkward, the truth is infinitely more awkward yet.*" If I were to tell you the county and city of Dallas might have never come to be, were it not for a prominent political figure in Philadelphian, Pennsylvanian, and national politics named Dallas would you very justifiably lord it over Cowboys fans? Over his career, George Mifflin Dallas served as the Mayor of Philadelphia, US Attorney for the Eastern District of PA, PA Attorney General, US Senator representing PA, Ambassador to Russia and later to the UK, and Vice President under Polk. He'd had Presidential ambitions, but they were dashed when his state support base of iron and coal interests turned their backs upon his tariff support about-face. Well, that and his unfortunate support for popular sovereignty, as it pertained to slavery. The prevailing theory is that in 1841 when the settlement of Dallas, Texas was established, it was named after this gentleman. And thus, Dallas would not exist today if it weren't for Philadelphia. You're welcome.

Matchups to Watch
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles Passing Attack vs. Cowboys Pass Defense
Dallas has a terrible defense that has profited off terrible QB play in their current two game win streak. They enter this contest Sunday going up against Jalen Hurts, who is easily the best QB they've faced since they got rolled by Lamar Jackson. This isn't to go out of the way and praise Jalen Hurts, it's just acknowledging the clear truth that Jalen Hurts is already better than Brian Allen and Nick Mullens. This Cowboys defense is short on talent and coaching which makes this matchup pretty juicy for the Eagles, even if they have a below average WR room. I've long said that Hurts should be an upgrade from Wentz whenever they decided to bench him as the 2020 version of the player was one of the worst QBs in the NFL. All Hurts had to do to be an upgrade from Wentz was eliminate the crushing negative plays, which he has. Additionally, he's been pretty good as a passer, showing growth from his time at OU in this short period of time. You'll never mistake him for having a live arm, but he plays with poise and throws with anticipation. That kind of time and anticipation can create a lot of plays through the air like we saw against the Cardinals. This offensive coaching staff still has the kid gloves on for Hurts with what they are calling, but what the offense has done thus far should be able to move the ball against this mediocre defense. Dallas struggles to defend anything which gives Reagor a chance to actually do something. Desean Jackson will play Sunday and should make an impact in however many snaps he's able to play.
Eagles Rushing Offense vs Dallas Rushing Defense
The only thing Dallas does worse than pass defense is rush defense. Since Hurts has been named the starter in Philly, the Eagles rushing attack has gotten much better. The single biggest reason for this is how defenses have to account for Jalen Hurts in the running game. The Eagles offensive line has been quite banged up this year but is still pretty good at creating holes in the running game for the RBs. Hurts naturally adds a different element to this area of the offense. Miles Sanders is slowly getting better at reading rushing lanes and actually getting tough yards vice trying to bounce carries outside. Oftentimes the OL will create rushing lanes for modest gains that can keep the offense on schedule but the RB tries to do too much and costs the offense yards. The Cowboys are the worst in the NFL allowing 5 yards per carry to opposing offenses. They've allowed the most 20+ rushing plays in the NFL. They've allowed the most first downs rushing. And they've allowed the most yards rushing in the NFL. This is a bad rush defense going up against the rushing attack that has always been able to create on the ground when they commit to it enough. I wouldn't expect a different outcome here on Sunday.
Eagles Secondary vs. Dallas Wide Receivers
This is one of the biggest mismatches in the game on Sunday but has less of a significance with Andy Dalton in at QB vice Dak Prescott, though it is a bigger challenge than Ben DiNucci. The Eagles will have Darius Slay on Sunday after clearing the concussion protocol this week. He'll likely see a lot of Amari Cooper on Sunday even though Schwartz hasn't used Slay a ton as a travel corner this season. Even if he does, the Cowboys still have Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb at receiver and they should be expected to win their matchups against the Eagles secondary consistently on Sunday. Avonte Maddox will miss the game; even if he played, he’s not good enough to give Gallup or Lamb much of a fight. As always, the Eagles will need their defensive line to create pressure and force Andy Dalton into mistakes which will aid the secondary; that's a matchup I would expect the Eagles DL to win pretty easily. It's another thing to ensure the Eagles secondary has this WR room in check. This secondary needs to play disciplined throughout this contest to give the defensive line time to feast. One major feature of opposition game planning we regularly see used against our defense is the quick passing game. Part of this is due to the nature of our secondary. The other reason for this is it helps neutralize a pass rush. The difference between 2.3 and 2.5 seconds in average time to throw is massive in a DL/OL mismatch like this one. Dalton is a fine backup QB at this point in his career and he is more than capable of making a mediocre secondary like Philly pay for mistakes.

Special thanks abenyishay and MikeTysonChicken for his help in creating this Game Preview.

The first open to classify the valorant challengers has already started in Latam. Today I am going to make my predictions of the 8 teams that will qualify in the south and point out some of their players to take into account for those who do not follow the Latin American scene and want to see these challengers.

• First bracket: I think the first classified will be 9z team. The Argentine team has been working with the same roster from the beginning and that is beginning to give them results. Last year they failed to qualify for first strike, but every day they have been playing much better and their players have much more synergy than ever. Today I would put 9z as one of the strongest teams in latam. The players I recommend looking specifically at are Exterminia, L4cerr, and Mizu.
• Second bracket: In this bracket the classification is a little more even, there are two great teams that will be contesting it: Kaos Latin Gamers, a team that is formed by the nucleus of what was Azules Esports and Feint Gaming, a team that classified First Strike LAS, yes They came out last well, they are a team that has been playing with the same players for a long time and I think that gives them an advantage. If I have to bet on one, I would do it on Feint, but it will be an interesting dispute. some players to pay attention: Feint: blackzero and Vlokz Kaos Latin Gamers: kraizzzz, neto and ANDREWCHL
• Third Bracket: In this bracket there is possibly the dispute for the classification with the best level. The two teams that can enter the challengers are Wygers Argentina (the team page is outdated, they changed their players) and Movistar Optix. I think wygers will qualify, since their roster is the nucleus of the old Australs team, the only team that could win a final against Estral Esports And leazo that comes from being the champion of the First Strike LAS with the same Estral. For its part, Movistar Optix is made up of Australs players who did not join Wygers and also former Catolica Esports players. Players to see? leazo, Keznit, and suther for Wygers. alca, vickt0r and MT1 for Movistar Optix.
• Fourth bracket: In this bracket there is an old acquaintance, such as Australs esports but with a new roster, although I think they were a better team before, the roster they currently have is not bad and they have every chance of qualifying. Is there a team that can handle it? Yes. Team Samurai, a team with little publicity, but lately they have been doing quite well in the games they play, they are practically the same roster from the beginning with some small changes, which makes their players have good chemistry. some players to pay attention: Team Samurai: Kodam and Dizku Australs: Melser and kiNgg
• Fifth bracket: This is the most difficult bracket as it faces teams like Furious Gaming and DKS Esports. Both are teams that did very well last year, qualified for First Strike LAS and kept part of their roster (Furious) and even improved with some additions. I think it could be for anyone but I'm going to bet on DKS and I quite like the players that he added to his roster in the last time. Payers to see: Klauss, debout and D1E from Furious nazek, KNZY, DOGAO
• Sixth Bracket: In this bracket I think that the classified is quite obvious, Malvinas Gaming should not have difficulties to qualify, they had quite accessible rivals and Malvinas is a team that is quite strong. Players to pay attention: Tinchoff, HANLING and Matthaus
• Seventh bracket: Another bracket with a clear winner, Meta Gaming. The organization of Paraguay is betting strongly on Valorant with a team with very heavy names, with players coming from LBS and Estral, Meta seeks to be one of the best in Latam. Players to consider: guishorro, puleule and Capi
• Eighth bracket The last bracket and the clearest of all. Sergio "Kun" Agüero's team, KRÜ Esports should take the classification quite easily. His roster is made up of a mix of very good young players from various teams and a pair of coaches with a lot of experience in esports such as Onur (First Strike LAS Champion with Estral) and BeTony (former pro of Smite, CS: GO , HotS and Magic). The objective is that these coaches can exploit the full potential that these young players have. Players to see: NagZ, Mazino (Formerly franKO), Leobas and Klaus

I hope I have helped those who want to see the South Latin American challengers matches. Maybe one of these days I will do a similar one for the North Latin American teams.
Here you can see the results of the qualifier that is currently being played: https://valorantchampions.lat/competicion/torneo/stage-1-e296b7-valorant-champions-sur-open-1/etapa1

PWW Update #3: The Armory
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It's the middle of February, and I think for a lot of us, it's incredible how much has happened this past month and a bit. Feels like it should be June already, huh? Well, it's still snowy up here in Canada, perfect weather to start up the factories for the Winter War. But before we start the tour, let's get some bookkeeping out of the way.
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Last spring, we held a series of Dev Streams to show off our new tech in a tabletop setting, then stopped abruptly when technical and scheduling difficulties got in the way. So are these Dev Streams coming back?
Yes and no. While we have given significant focus to Tabletop Simulator to show off our tech, PWW is primarily a MechWarrior 5 project. Tabletop is having just as much care devoted to it, but at the end of the day, this is Mech 5. In light of that, Dev Streams will return when PWW assets are ready to be shown off in Mech 5. Anything we do in tabletop at this point will be more community focused, providing you the tools to play with our tech yourselves (and joining you when we can!). So what Dev Streams are waiting on is actually demoing in-game assets. When? Well, MagnumGB Has for the most part wrapped up work on MercTech 2.0 and it's piping hot out of the oven, which means we can finally start tearing it apart in-house to make our own customizations. So to answer the question, I’ll use a phrase that you may have heard before here in PWW: "Sooner than you might think, but not that soon".
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We love you, MagnumGB.
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THE ARMORY
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Alright, now let's open the armory doors and begin our tour.
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Imagine for a moment you're walking into a massive warehouse built like a show floor that has each and every single piece of weaponry we've made dolled up on shiny white marble turntables and bright showcase lights. Welcome to WinterCon 3240. Let’s take a walk, shall we? Off in the distance is the main exhibit: big, powerful and sleek looking weapons that put RISC tech to shame. But those deserve a proper buildup. So we'll start close to the door and walk around the various booths making up Synth Technology.
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Know who would use Synth technology? A Synth.
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...Wait, wrong universe. Sorry Paladin Danse, but we have better Power Armor in the form of Elementals.
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For the uninitiated, Synth Technology is, broadly speaking, all weapons and equipment that you are already familiar with, both Inner Sphere and Clan based. Meaning that the Synth ER Large Laser is the same Clan ER Large Laser you've been playing with across all BattleTech Media.
(From -Spectre: The name of the tech base comes from the Hegelian dialectic theory in philosophy, where the tension between a thesis and antithesis is resolved by means of a synthesis. Think of IS tech as the thesis and Clan tech as the antithesis: both had positive elements that the other didn’t have, so over the course of trade and innovation, that disparity was resolved in a synthesis of the two, hence the name Synth tech).
So is there anything Synth that is different or new? You bet! It's been 90-ish years since ilClan, so of course there was some technological growth here and there. The primary purpose for this tech base dev-wise is that by the time 3240 comes around, the OG Inner Sphere tech is for the most part extremely outdated and obsolete. Why? Well, Clan trade is a big reason; we all know Clan Diamond Shark/Sea Fox loves money and would be directly competing with the Lyran Commonwealth and others for profits. With this dynamic and others during this time frame, Clan Tech would be more widely available in this time period than in any other. But Clan tech is not all that is left. Roughly speaking, Synth Tech is what everyone knows as Inner Sphere and Clan Technology lumped into one category. -Spectre is the curator for SynthTech here, so why don’t we hear a little bit from him about how IS tech was preserved and how Clan Tech has changed.
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So what are some Inner Sphere things that have stayed? Pick out a few.
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-Melee weapons
While the Inner Sphere was not the only group to develop melee weapons (I’m looking at you, Jade Falcons), they are largely considered to be IS-specific equipment. Continuing the trend we already see budding in the Jihad and Dark Age, melee weapons have spread to most militaries and have become an accepted part of standard military doctrine. However, as technology advanced and tech bases began to merge, melee weapons fell out of the spotlight for technological development, and have carried over into SynthTech exactly as they were during the IlClan era.
-MRMs
The closest Clan scientists have come to developing a medium range missile launcher is the ATM firing standard munitions, but this fills an entirely different niche than the raw missile firepower philosophy of the MRM. So as technology developed and merged, the same design methods used to create the MRM were applied to Clan LRMs, creating an updated, Clan-spec MRM for SynthTech.
-Standard Lasers
While the Clans initially elected to forsake standard lasers in favor of their ER counterparts, considering their fast and furious fighting formula, the long campaigns forced upon them by war in the Inner Sphere proved to them the need for cooler versions of these weapons for situations where raw firepower is more valuable than longer ranges. While the standard line of lasers has been upgraded to compete with Clan ER lasers, they retain the niche that they held within the IS tech base.
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Alright, so there is some IS stuff getting updated to Clan spec, what about some Clan weapons that have seen some upgrades?
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-Heavy Lasers
Originally, heavy lasers carried a very similar tradeoff to that of MRMs over LRMs—potentially more damage for the same weight at a closer range and less chance to hit. However, the lowered accuracy was antithetical to the general direction of technological development, and the improved heavy laser was developed, which solved the loss of accuracy at the price of increased volatility, with the lasers exploding when struck by weapons fire. As this developmental direction continued to maintain prominence, and volatile equipment became more and more commonplace, improved heavy lasers became the standard for heavy lasers, with the originals lost to time as merely an extended prototype stage.
-ER Pulse Lasers
During the Dark Age, ER pulse lasers were experimental weapons that were just kind of lackluster. They didn’t have the full range of their ER laser counterparts, nor did they have the full accuracy boost of their pulse laser counterparts, while having the full weight of pulse lasers, more heat than ER lasers, and taking up more space than either. As innovation continued, ER pulse lasers were perfected, regaining the full accuracy of standard pulse lasers while retaining their extended range, though they also retain their increased heat and bulk. This categorical improvement was achieved by applying the same technology pioneered in heavy lasers, improving accuracy at the cost of a more volatile weapon.
-LBX Autocannons
As the Clans developed their technological identity during their initial exile, standard autocannons and all of their various special munitions were abandoned in favor of the simpler versatility of the LBX autocannon, in similar fashion to their focus on ER lasers. However, the Great Houses had no desire to give up the versatility of the standard autocannon, creating different niches for the standard and LBX autocannons. As technologies mingled, the entrenched role of special munitions in the Inner Sphere continued to clash with the more streamlined dichotomy between UAC and LBX, until finally LBX autocannons were modified to support all of the various special munitions of the standard autocannon, finally allowing standard autocannons to pass into obsolescence.
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And finally, what are some new things coming for the Inner Sphere?
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-Omni Missile Launchers
ATMs and MMLs are often compared, because they fill very similar niches, and are the only two missile launchers in existence capable of firing multiple missile types with different range brackets. However, the two work on inherently different principles, and the MML is still limited as to what exactly it can fire. As the Great Houses and Spheroid Clans encountered each other’s products, these two launchers were directly synthesized into the Omni Missile Launcher, or OML
-Impulse Particle Projection Cannon
Though the MechWarrior games would lead you to believe otherwise, the PPC in-universe is not an on-demand ball of destruction. Upon pressing the trigger, the PPC takes a moment to accelerate the particles it will be firing, before releasing them in a stream (not a ball!) towards the target. This creates a measure of inherent inaccuracy within the weapon (most weapons in BT have some form of inherent inaccuracy in their basic function, so that this inaccuracy is considered standard accuracy), as well as allowing the stream more opportunity to dissipate at longer ranges. The impulse PPC uses a modification of capacitor technology to alleviate these drawbacks, using beefier materials to allow it to maintain a charge at all times, so it is ready to fire instantly in a single bolt, increasing both accuracy and effective range, at the cost of continual heat generation, volatility, decreased responsiveness at closer ranges, and greater weight and bulk.
-Extended special ballistics selection
As the Cold War gave rise to a military renaissance, it was inevitable that attention would be cast on the various new developments in the ballistics department. RACs had stopped development with the 2 and 5 classes, and the light and heavy gauss rifles were new technologies that were still finding their niches, The size selections of several different types of ballistics have been expanded, and an entirely new class has been added: the Autocannon 15. Enjoy :)
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So what do some of these things do now? Well the simple side of things, is most of these either got replaced by Clan Weaponry, or saw development based off Clan Weaponry to improve itself, tackling Range, Heat, Weight and Size to a mild degree. As for the new, well we can talk about these a little bit more.
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Impulse PPC's are arguably the neatest weapon for Synth Technology. Omni Missile Launchers or OML's are pretty much what they're called. They are missile launchers that can fire off any missile ammo you have on your mech. ATMs? It can shoot those. SRM Inferno? Yup. What about your Streak LRM Ammo? It won't track, but yeah you can do that too! You can also see the in-universe design philosophy behind the weapon as well. Heavy Pulse Lasers are a neat idea for Synth Tech. If Heavy Lasers existed normally, well, why not Pulse types? So for some increased heat, you get increased damage. Pulses are already hot, so you might need to equip more heatsinks than you think while running any decent number of these.
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QUANTITY & QUALITY
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Alright, let's move to the shiny stuff in the back of the show floor now. As we walk over to the booth, every weapon on display is familiar looking, but gives off this aura of power and perfection, like each one was created to meet only the highest specifications. But you look around and see them -everywhere-. You know the phrase quality over quantity? Well, what if I told you that Evolved Technology can do both? The industries behind Clan Ash Leopard have the benefits that most nations and Clans in the Inner Sphere only dream about: uncontested resources in great concentrated quantities. Put bluntly, they have the raw materials and then some to make whatever they wanted and still have leftovers. Another difference here is instead of applying that level of materiel affluence just to Military uses, Clan Ash Leopard also made great strides in their civilian infrastructure and industries, effectively raising their quality of life to near-Utopian levels (but hey, that’s what the Romans would have said about us today, and we’re still complaining). So life is pretty good over in their homespace. As for specifics on that, well, you gotta wait. The novella our wonderful co-writer Lunatiel has dubbed "Autumn Shadow" delves into the origins of Clan Ash Leopard, so you'll get your details there.
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Continuing on, though, we have quantity and quality... but what do they -do-? Let's first look at a brief design history and philosophy (out-of-universe) of Evolved Tech.
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When I first started this project, I just wanted my faction to be powerful, and have the resources to sustain losses without slowing down. Early concepts of the unnamed Tech Base were sitting roughly around a 25% performance increase in terms of damage. Not only that, but I went HARD with making this stuff Over Powered as *BLEEP*. Minimal heat, all the range, light and small enough to at least mount the biggest and heaviest weapon on a 20T Light mech. Yeah, a version of that Evolved Tech still exists in deep storage. No, it will never see the light of day. When Spectre came on board about 4-6 months after I conceptualized PWW, he really reigned in what is Battletech and what isn't Battletech. My weapons were more akin to standard Sci-Fi than Battletech was. So they got nerfed. They got NERFED.
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As I look at the TRO for Evolved Weapons this very day, I'm happier with them now than with the uber-powerful godlike weapons I created. They feel grounded, but still powerful, and they retain the feel of "Battletech Weaponry". It was about 3 months of solid work to re-figure the weapons and finally give the first name we had for this techset, which was "Clan Evolved". It felt appropriate at the time, given that each weapon started from a Clan version, and it... well... evolved. As time went on, seeing the weapon tag [CE] started to grind on me a bit. As the project developed and Clan Ash Leopard's motivations came into sharp focus, their philosophy, as well as their tech, became clearly so “post-Clan” that it felt wrong to connect it so strongly to Clan technology, despite their origins and claim to Clanship. So it changed to a simple [E] for Evolved. There might be a Dev Diary or two in the future that goes into why that was such an important change, and bring in the in-universe reasoning for it as well, but that would be directly spoiling Luna's plans for Autumn Shadow.
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Now a quick design philosophy. We've painted Clan Ash Leopard as this strange new culture with strange new habits and beliefs. While that is rigidly true, their preferred behaviour in combat has not changed; they still like to take quick and decisive victories, BUT (and this is the kicker), they are more than happy to sit and wait, stalk their prey and when the moment comes where they can exploit a weakness for victory, you are not even going to have time to eject from your mech. And if you think it's over after ejection, nope. You'll find you were stalked by a -pack- of Ash Leopards, and they're gonna hunt you, find you, and hurt you all while doing it in force, and before you know it there’s an entire galaxy blitzkrieging your position.
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Less is More.
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Clan Ash Leopard still abhors waste, but they have the means to be a little looser with it. One weapon in particular is very telling of their wartime philosophy as well, and we'll get to that in a short second. But if you look at the Evolved Armory, a few things are accomplished; 1st was the rough 15-25% damage increase on weapons that were -capable- of it. Second was to tackle the largest drawback of each weapon type. The third and final design rule was range increase. So let's pretend Clan Ash Leopard has some "patch notes" on display and lets go over what those 3 design rules did to each weapon type; Energy, Missile and Ballistic. Then I'll talk about my favorite weapon ever.
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Energy:
-Damage: Got its straight 15-25% damage increase where it was able to. In-universe, Evolved Capacitors are larger and transfer energy more efficiently.
-Drawback tackled: Heat. Evolved Energy Weapons from that more efficient system will run cooler.
-Range: I don't really know what to say here other than Small Lasers can reach out and touch you for 6 damage at 8 hexes (240m).
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Missile:
-Damage: Not directly changed, however most missiles receive an effective damage bonus from behaviour changes, which leads to the next point.
-Drawback Tackled: Since Clan Launchers are already as light as they can go, the only improvement was fiddling with accuracy. Non-streak launchers now have inherent Artemis VI, improving accuracy and tracking for cluster hits. So, Missiles basically got just half a ton heavier to shoot further, cooler, and more actual hits with missiles. Pretty good trade-off.
-Range: Same as before, you can shoot pretty far now. SRMs can fire out to 360m, and LRMs have a more "long range" feel to them maxing out at 810m.
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Ballistic:
-Damage: Similar damage buff coming from the capacity of ammo bins. Clan Ash Leopard has accomplished adding 25% more ammo into the bin through more efficient building of the bin and ammo itself. AC2 Ammo was 45 traditionally, CAL can pack in 56 AC2 shots per ton.
-Drawback Tackled: Size and weight. Ballistics have always been thicc and heavy, but Ash Leopard has got their ballistics to a 'curvy' state and my, my, they are beautiful to use. Not only that, but they're slightly cooler to shoot as well.
-Range: Same deal still. UAC20's can slap you with a brick out at 450m now.
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There's more to talk about there, but a lot of it numbers and logic. If you're really interested in that level of detail and behind-the-scenes development, let us know. We might do some Dev Diary things in the future.
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But now I wanna talk about my favorite weapon, and the one that has drawn a lot of eyes for those that have seen the PWW Tech Repository. The ER Gauss Rifle, AKA; Nightstalker's Bow.
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This weapon was THE first concept of an Evolved weapon I came up with. The intended purpose and primary function of the NS Bow is to kill MechWarriors in their mechs, regardless of movement. Yes, I know, it sounds as broken as my hopes and dreams these days, but let me just remind you of a nightmare first. Those of you that played Halo 2 on legendary, what is the one specific thing that made that venture most difficult? The -ONE- thing that above all else; forced you to never blindly run around corners ever again? Yep, you got it. Jackal Snipers.
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A more... fightable version of that enemy type will exist in PWW, but the concept is the same. A weapon that will cockpit MechWarriors out even if they are in a full sprint in a Locust, or cliff diving in a Highlander, feathering jump jets all the way down. You're at risk. Anytime. Anywhere.
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Now you're probably wondering why we're subjecting you to this potential torture. It's true, I want to have an enemy on the field just to mess with you, the player, but in a way that only happens if -you- messed up. Let's talk about the mechanics of this weapon befitting an assassin of old.
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The Nightstalker's Bow is a massive Gauss Weapon at 14 Tons, 8 Crits, with a special projectile made for it designed to pierce armor and keep going. See, this weapon can shoot FAR. How far? How about 50 Hexes? That's 1500m. Yeah... very far. The weapon while designed to aim for the head, can just as easily be turned on a limb and cause a Crit due to its armor-piercing nature. It will do 15 damage to -something- regardless if you want it to or not. Now it seems powerful, and it is, but here are the balancing measures. First of all, the power needed to fire this weapon is immense, and as a result actually creates an appreciable amount of heat, where traditionally, gauss weapons are very cool. However, in-universe, the weapon isn't getting hot, the capacitors are. Next, to reign this weapon in, the highly advanced targeting system that allows it to headshot so consistently needs time to actually calculate that shot. In tabletop, you have to spend a turn gathering targeting info on a declared target before firing. In-game, the more predictably you move (like a straight line, or if you're jump-jetting down a cliff at a consistent speed), the more likely you're gonna get a up-close look at that shiny new projectile. And to make sure it's capable of shots like this, the weapon mount isn't designed to adjust quickly, so using it in close range will be nearly impossible. Do you see military snipers using rifles like an R700 against targets within range a pistol or other sidearm is more effective? Nope, and this is very much the same case here. It has a minimum range of 10 Hexes, or 300m. It's pretty significant and tailors the design of the weapon right to its intended use.
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When we tested the weapon, our test group had an average just higher than 1 headshot per game. This is a very good position for it. I wanted a headshot weapon, and Spectre's care and knowledge of Battletech brought it into a comfortable existence. It's a fantastic and crippling weapon, but it's only perfect when the rest of the mech carrying said weapon can support it where the weapon can't operate. Get in close, you're safe. Out there across the field, much different story that ends in pain for the target.
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The Nightstalker's Bow is the Magnum Opus of Clan Ash Leopard, and the very use of that weapon they are well aware of the gravity that comes with making and using it. It's also the only weapon we've gone over that was designed, tweaked and perfected over the course of 4 months. When you have a weapon like this, that does what it does, you have to be so careful because as you can tell, it teeters on the line of broken and balanced. We're very pleased with where it ended up, our test group loved it and didn't have problems with it, and therefore, we're sure you'll hate to be blown out of your mech in the middle of a 108km/h sprint.
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But will you get to use such an awesome weapon?
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It would be a crime not to. But good luck salvaging it.
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Seriously. Good luck.
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TALK SHOW GIVEAWAY
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Well that's all we have for this update. There's tons more to talk about in terms of weapons, and we will, but part of the fun in Battletech is figuring out what everything does yourself. I know I enjoyed exploring Clan Technology when I was a kid, and I hope tinkering with Evolved Technology will be enjoyable and fun for you all as well. But as stated, while Evolved Technology on paper is better than anything else, we didn't want to bring back the "Brainless" choice of mounting Clan Tech on everything because there were no drawbacks. Here, we wanted to make sure everything had a place, use, and a reason or situation to use it over something that is objectively better. As said above, Evolved is all about a "Less is more" mentality. Evolved Weapons hit harder, yes, but they're heavier on average and more space consuming, whereas you could mount more weapons from the Synth base and get similar results, but in a different way where more weapons can be afforded, which is usually a question of heat. RPG players can recognize this as "burst damage" vs "sustained damage". That's basically EvoTech vs SynthTech right there, boiled down to its simplest form. There will be situations that warrant burst damage over sustained; even playstyle will determine what you use. -THAT- right there is how we designed it. Reasons to take or not take everything, regardless of stats. It already works in table top and you better believe we will make it work in Mech 5. We can't wait to see what everyone does.
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Recapping;
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-Dev Streams return with Mech5 implementation
-MagnumGB being the G.O.A.T
-Synth Tech design philosophy and history
-Impulse PPC being a terribly wonderful thing
-Evolved Tech design philosophy and history
-Nightstalker's Bow being a Jackal Sniper
-Closing thoughts
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But wait, we're not quite done. Nope, there was one last promise to keep and so it shall be.
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With update #3 (was meant to be 2, but hey... ilClan) we promised a special sumthin-sumthin to come along with the armory. Well... it's ready and just in time. Not only that, but we have something even cooler to come with it. And even a reason to use all of it.
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We have the Tech Repository for PWW where people can look at 99% of the tech suite we have. It's enough information for people to use to create things for themselves. But it's just not... easy. You have to do your own math to see what you can fit on a mech and play havoc with a pencil and eraser. Well, as a gift from the far-future Clan Ash Leopard, they're giving away to everyone in today's audience their very own, pristine and shiny Evolved MechLab.
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No, this isn't a joke. Last year, the illustrious SniperTeamTango gave me some guidance in using Google Sheets and using code there to go nuts and I basically created a fully functional MechLab in a spreadsheet. Not only that, but we included a Battle Value Calculator to use as well (with attached documentation) so you can create a PWW mech from beginning to end and have it field ready in minutes. It's a Clan Ash Leopard Evolved Mechlab!
It's even 16 times the detail...
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But that's not all... again. The EML (Evolved MechLab) and BV Calculator is great to use, but let's provide some incentive and stir up some creativity and excitement among you all.
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That mech you built and customized perfectly? You treasure it more than anything else, and use it everywhere? You re-made it in Mech 4 back in the day, maybe remade it in Mechwarrior Online? A Table Top staple of your army? We want to see it. Not only do we want to see it, we want to see it in PWW. In-game. In-universe. As part of our canon. We're not just stopping there, we also want your homebrew faction/unit/merc company. Your pilots, commanders, lieutenants, generals, Tai-Sa's, Kommandants, ALL OF IT. We want to see it, we want you to be part of this project.
​
While I know we're gonna get flooded with submissions and at least -I- personally intend to include as many of them as I can get Spectre to approve, there's gonna be some absolutely brilliant ones that just -fit- with a faction so well, we want to add them more prominently. Since PGI's era, the term "hero mechs" has been tossed around. Well... not everyone is a hero, and not every mech is worthy of being a hero. Instead, we're shifting that term to be more appropriately accurate to what that term is meant to convey. Someone and their mech are so well known and 'iconic', they're legends in Battletech. Hey... Legends... They're called Legendary Mechs. Your homebrew you've been sitting on for years, or months, or hey, could be days... the one you're so proud of and love to use? It can become a Legendary Mech/MechWarrior in our canon.
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But maybe you're messing around in your brand-new Evo MechLab, and make a new Synth Mech, Clan Mech, or even an Evolved Mech. Submit it. Let's see it. If it fits well with the faction, maybe it becomes official. But maybe you're just doing a Synth refit, or an Evolved refit of an existing mech, maybe making a new variant or config for your favorite Warhammer, we'd love to see it and maybe add it to our ever-growing library of mech variants and configs.
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We'll have more specifics when this "event" begins closer to the date, but for now you have the Mechlab and BV Calculator. We'll give you a head start.
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Come to the PWW Discord Server to claim yours now
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I NEED A WEAPON
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Alright, I gotta get back to preparing a lot of writing, and dealing with crippling anxiety about how big this project is. Don't worry, we'll get this done, just some days my own mental health freaks me out, thinking we may have bitten off more than we can chew. But then I look at Discord and see all the passionate people interested and working on this project. We're doing this for you. All of you. We don't want to disappoint, nor do we want to be sitting on this for years to come. No, we're hoping Chapter 1 is less than a year away. I struggle to write more thoughts on how awesome this project is, and how much it stresses me out, and considering this day and age, I feel talking about mental health is extremely important, and being open with it. We all have a bad habit of bottling it up, shoving it away and telling ourselves "Everything will be fine". Well, sometimes it’s not. I can't speak for everyone else, but I have you guys to lean on. This entire project is not about me, the staff, or really even BattleTech. It's about you guys that are supporting this as far as you have. I appreciate everyone being here and being the spine I need to push through this project. It's harder some days than others. But you all make me more determined than ever to put this project out and take the world by storm. You all are my weapon against the negative thoughts I have while working at this, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. If you don't have your own weapon, reach out to us. We're all in this weird universe together.
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Thank you.
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"This one time, my CO ordered me to take point. We got ambushed, and I exclaimed ‘Well that's just awesome!’ To which my CO replied ‘No, that's a Mauler.’"
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Stay Safe, & Take some time your health this week
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Madcat529, -Spectre & PWW Team

The Last Precursor is an HFY-exclusive web-serial which focuses on the exploits of the last living human amidst a galaxy of unknown aliens. With his species all but extinct and now only known as the ancient Precursors, how will Admiral José Rodriguez survive in this hostile universe? Make sure to read the earlier chapters first if you missed them!
Do you like the story? Subscribe to HFY bot and get notified when I post new parts!

Join the Cryoverse Discord!

Previous Part
Part 001
.......................................
"Umi. Seal the holodeck's entrance."
"Affirmative, Admiral Rodriguez."
José Rodriguez, the last living Terran, stands in the middle of the vast, empty expanse of the holodeck. Its silver walls and floor, immaculately smooth and polished, gleam under the bright ceiling lights. The huge double-doors close behind him and vanish, hidden by the holographic interface.
"Admiral," The synthmind, Umi, say. "I have already predicted the actions you're about to take. However, at a time like this, indulging in a fantasy will not-"
"Shut up," José says, his face blank. "I'm the leader of humanity now, right? That means the old laws don't matter anymore. So... don't lecture me. I'm not interested, and I won't listen. You just do as you're told."
"...Very well, Admiral. I hope you won't go too far."
...
Several seconds pass. Admiral Rodriguez stares at the far wall, his thoughts contemplative.
Then, he lowers his head. A series of mental commands transmits into the holodeck's interface via his cerebral implants. Shortly after, a human figure appears in front of him. A man, more than a foot taller than José, with black skin, a neatly trimmed black beard, and the gaze of an eagle, stands at attention. His navy blue uniform, oaken muscles, and domineering statue make him a lion among men. Just standing in his presence might cause any feeble-minded man to surrender without a fight.
The moment the soldier's hologram appears, José averts his eyes. He turns his head to the side and grabs his chest, trying to suppress a wave of emotion.
"Nick... Nicky-boy... shit. I didn't... I didn't think it would... it would hit me this quick."
Nicholai Azaram, once a top-ranked soldier among Ramma's Chosen, now nothing more than a puddle of blue cryogenic fluid. His hologram stands before José, a stark reminder of the great man he once was.
José presses his fingers against his eyelids. He struggles to catch his breath while the holographic Nicholai gazes into the void, its unseeing eyes comprehending nothing. The Admiral's chest heaves, and his eyes tear up.
Umi speaks. "Admiral. I am detecting elevated levels of NA-14 in your neurochemical receptors. This indicates that you are experiencing profound anguish. I advise that you cease any further actions on the holodeck without a trained-"
"I told you to shut up!" José shouts, squeezing his eyes shut. "Not another word, Umi! Just follow my orders! No back-talk! I need to do this! It's my right, god dammit!"
Umi hesitates before replying.
"As you command, Admiral."
The synthmind gives up without a fight, but José barely even notices. After more than a minute, he finally raises his gaze to look at the man in front of him.
"Brother... brother..."
José takes a step forward. He wraps his arms around the hologram's waist and buries his face in its chest.
"Uuu... hic... I can't... I can't take it... not without you, Nicky-boy."
The hologram's ice-cold skin, formed via photonic particles and held together with magnetic energy, doesn't deter the Admiral. José barely even notices as he struggles to hold himself together. In his mind's eye, he imagines this fake, illusory figure is none other than his dearly departed best friend and long-time partner, the man he fought alongside for thousands of years.
"I'm so sorry, Nick. You didn't deserve to go out like that. If only I'd run a maintenance check before we went into stasis... if only I'd asked the Admiral to sweep the local space for plasma storms... it's all my god-damned fault you died."
...
With no one there to judge him, José utterly breaks down. He weeps for half an hour, sobbing against the hologram's chest, even as it stands at attention, unmoving.
Finally, José pulls away. He sinks to the floor at the hologram's feet and slumps forward, a look of exhaustion on his face.
Time passes.
An hour comes and goes before José stirs again. The Terran raises his head. He waves his hand, making Nick disappear.
"Switch to memory replay mode."
José summons a holographic chair and sinks into it. He waits while Umi's neural readers engage with his thoughts and pick out the desired memories from his brain.
Eventually, the entire holographic chamber shifts. It transforms into a militaristic logistics room, one with dozens of senior officers milling about. They walk around José's chair as if he isn't even present, engaging in various duties as they go about their day.
Not far from José's seat, a holographic rendition of himself and Nicholai Azaram stand at attention, their postures stiff, and their arms behind their backs. Before them, a blond-haired, dark-skinned logistics commander stares at a datapad in her hands. Her dark grey uniform contrasts with José and Nick's navy blue colors, making her appear much more high-level and authoritative than either of them.
"-as for those 'minor errors' you mentioned in your reports, I'll have the Special Investigation Team look into them. All things considered, this was another great showing from team 'Twin-Headed Hydra.' I'll have your next mission ready in a month or two. Anything else?"
The woman looks up, her sparkling blue eyes meeting José's first, then Nicholai's. Both men shake their heads while maintaining neutral expressions.
"No, Adjunct Belfos," Nick says, replying for himself and José. "We've included all of the pertinent information in our reports."
"Excellent. Dismissed, then," The Adjunct replies. Without another word, she turns on her heel and strides away, leaving José and Nicholai alone.
A few seconds pass before both men allow their shoulders to slump.
"Haha..." Nick laughs. "Damn. The Adjunct is looking mighty fine today, don't you think, Jojo?"
"You always say that," The holographic José chuckles. "If you could keep your eyes off her 'assets' for five seconds, you might be as scared of her as all the other guys. She's out of your league, Nicky-boy."
"A man can't help looking when he sees something he likes," Nick says, nudging José's ribs. "It's not my fault those creased pants give her the ass of an ancient goddess. Just you watch, Jojo. The Adjunct's gonna fall for me, one of these days. Just like all the others."
"I'm sure she will," José says, while shaking his head and grinning. "Too bad you'll already have moved on to ten other women by then. You'll never find someone to settle down with."
Nick smirks. "I'm a free bird, Jojo. Can't help my nature. We can't all be like you, finding our soulmate and... well, you know."
José's expression dims noticeably. "That was a long time ago, Nick. I'm over Evelyn."
"That's what you say..." Nick replies, his smile fading away as well. "Different worlds, man. I'm sure she had a good life."
José stares across the room, his hologram's vacant expression perfectly mirroring the flesh and blood José's as well. Both renditions of himself momentarily gain a thousand-mile stare, looking beyond their surroundings at a distant past, one filled with regrets.
"Hey, man," Nick says, interrupting José's thoughts. "Sorry I was such a downer. Let's go get some chow. Clam Chowder?"
Both José's snap out of their dazes. The holographic one curls his lip in disgust. "You and your nasty- never mind. You can eat that shit if you want. I'll have a sandwich."
"Haha!" Nick laughs. "That look on your face! I gotcha good."
"Yeah, you do always know what to say..." Holo-José mutters.
Both of them walk away, and the memory file disappears.
Moments later, the holodeck's surroundings shift once again. This time, José appears inside an underground cave, one with light-strips attached to the ceiling, running along a long, narrow corridor. Pipes and electrical conduits run along the walls, leading down to an unknown destination in the distance.
Nicholai, José, and a pair of female officers slink down the hall, past the flesh-and-blood José seated in his holographic chair. Their dream-like bodies phase through him like ghosts as they stealthily approach a heavy, iron door bolted to the wall.
"You think they're here?" One of the women, a redhead, asks. "Third door's the charm, eh?"
"Fackin' hell," The other woman, a muscular brunette, grumbles. "If this ain't the right one, I'll blow my stinkin' stack."
José and Nick both clutch fifty-pound energy rifles to their chests, the black-steel carbines looking particularly menacing in the low lighting. The women, meanwhile, follow in the rear with energy pistols in their right hands, and sturdy energy shields attached to their left wrists. The see-through barriers grant them unobstructed vision, while also adding onto the protection garnered from their Survival Suits.
"You don't have anything to worry about," Nick says, as his iris modules shift to infrared. His irises turn crimson, making his eyes glow a fiery blood-red. "Lots of bogeys inside."
"You fellas better be as good as the rumors say," The redhead grumbles. "We're paying a heap of credits to get a couple of Ramma's Chosen down here."
"You definitely overpaid," Nick says with a smirk. "Jojo alone would've been enough to take out a Ghül bunker. But since I'm here too, I'll make sure you get your money's worth."
"Roit, just so long as these sick Ghül-fackers get ripped to shreds, I'll be happy," The brunette replies.
The women hang back, allowing José and Nick to approach the giant metal door alone. The redhead whispers some words into a wrist-communicator on her right hand, sending a status update back to HQ, while the brunette watches with narrowed eyes.
José and Nick arrive at the giant metal door. Its circular appearance resembles the entrance to a huge bank vault, with its top reaching some fifteen feet in the air and nearly touching the ceiling. A circular handle in its center proves the only option for entering, so José takes point, leaves his gun to hang by its strap, and starts spinning the handle.
Nick's casual grin fades away. A look of deadly focus consumes his face, changing him from a man one might share a beer with on a Friday night to a vicious killer capable of ripping a tiger in half with his bare hands.
Inside the vault, several people cry out in alarm. Nick watches with his infrared vision as multiple blobs of heat hunker down behind cover and take aim at the door, waiting to see who will step through.
José spins the handle the fifth and final time, causing the door's internal mechanisms to audibly click into place. At that moment, both he and Nick activate their Dermal Armor, enveloping their skin in diamond-like hardened nanites.
"Three, two, one... go!" José shouts. He yanks on the door and pulls it open, allowing Nick to jump into the room a split-second later while deactivating his infrared vision.
What comes next is like a scene out of a horror movie. The heavily armored commando unloads a hail of blaster fire with pinpoint precision, shredding the heads and chests of dozens of men and women, all of them armed to the teeth. Their inferior weaponry, far less advanced than his, bounce off Nicholai's hardened skin like bits of chalk striking a stone wall.
"Die, heretics!" Nick roars. "You failures of humanity! You disgusting monsters! All of you, just die!"
The inner room, an advanced storage facility with nutrient tubes running alone the walls, rapidly becomes covered in blood. Screams of horror and fear rise among the Children of Ghül's ranks as the heretics perish by the dozens. José joins in only seconds after Nick, but by the time he starts unloading bullets into the enemies, half of them have already perished.
Within three minutes, both soldiers clear out over three hundred enemies, leaving countless bodies to spasm on the ground. Some people hold on to weak threads of life, but José quickly and systematically walks around, gunning down anyone who didn't immediately perish in the first attack wave.
"Tch," Nick grunts, as he kicks over one of the female combatants to look at her blood-covered face. "Too bad. Beauty wasted on a heretical piece of shit like you."
"We're in the right place," José says, as he grabs a datapad out of a dead man's hands. "Experimental Subjects 241B, 242F, and 247A. How many commendations do you think we'll get for destroying this place?"
"Psh. Like I care," Nick scoffs. "Central Command can shove their commendations up their asses. I'm just here to fuck bitches and kill heretics. None of that pencil-pushing bullshit matters to me."
José laughs. "Haha. Yeah, I just like riling you up."
"You're a real piece of work, Jojo."
Both men stomp through the puddles of blood, laughing as they banter idly about various things.
The two women from outside slip inside the room. Despite their momentary shock at the horrific scene of carnage, both of them quickly assume more professional expressions before nodding at the 'Twin-Headed Hydra,' two of Ramma's Chosen, their top elites.
"Damn, nice work," The brunette says. "You cleaned these bastards up all quick-like."
"One less group of scumbags to deal with," The redhead says. "Alright, let's enter the experimental facility."
Nick's eyes flicker with rage. "No matter what we find in there, it dies. Understand? Don't feel any compassion for Ghül's creations. They'll thank you for ending their misery."
"Noted," The redhead tersely replies.
Minutes later, after passing through a few hallways and killing some straggler enemies, the group of four arrives inside a facility filled with nutrient vats, each one possessing clear observation-glass for viewing the subjects inside. The redhead and brunette both scowl as they spot multiple horrific human-animal hybrid creatures, many of them with grotesque, mutilated bodies. One of them, a man-wolf hybrid, stares into the distance blankly, his pure-white eyes forever blind to the beauties of the world.
José and Nick blast the experiment vats with their rifles, ruthlessly killing every chimera in sight. Hundreds upon hundreds of horrific experiments line the walls and sit scattered in vats around the room, their nutrient liquids spilling out and soaking the floor in disgusting, nauseating secretions.
After slaughtering several hundred of the chimeras, José suddenly pauses before one of the vats. Inside, a little girl, perhaps six years old, stands with hunched shoulders. A huge bubble on her back, the size of a beach ball, is the only abnormality on her body. Otherwise, she appears normal in every other way.
Nick, hearing José pause his gunfire, turns and trots over to his brother's side.
"Yo! What's up, Jojo? You find someth- ...oh."
The two women, also hearing the gunfire stop, wander over to the pair of Ramma's Chosen. They watch from a distance, confused, as they see José hesitating to kill the little girl.
"Hey man, I've got this one. Don't force yourself," Nick says, resting his hand on José's shoulder. "Why don't you go and do the other wing?"
José doesn't move. He continues to stare at the mutated child, a look of longing on his face.
"...She's just a little girl," José mutters. "A little kid."
Nick sighs. He lowers his gun and nods. "Yeah, man. I know you've got a soft spot for kids. We can't save her, though. She'll go berserk once she leaves that tube. They always do."
José lowers his gaze to his rifle. "Always?"
"Mhm."
Nick clicks his tongue and sighs.
"You still thinking about Evelyn?"
José nods. "Always. It never goes away. The longing, I mean. She's probably long dead. Probably died thousands of years ago."
"She ain't like us," Nick says. "We've got nanites. We don't need to worry about old age. She's a primitive."
"If we'd brought her back..." José murmurs. "We could have changed that."
Nick shakes his head. "And doomed her world. It was a cruel choice. You can't keep beating yourself up."
"Sure I can," José says, laughing hollowly. "That's the one thing I'm good at."
Both men fall silent.
Nick stares at the little girl floating in the vat. Her closed eyes give the impression she's experiencing a pleasant dream, a wonderful fantasy she might never awaken from.
"It's not always your fault, Jojo," Nick mutters. "Life. Things in general. You need to learn to stop blaming yourself for everything."
José continues staring at the floor. "Easy for you to say. Not everyone can be as good at life as you."
"You sound jealous," Nick says. "Don't be. If anyone should be jealous, it's me."
The shorter Terran raises his head. "Huh? You? Jealous of me? You always were good at jokes."
"Nah, man," Nick mutters. "You don't get it. You think I've got my shit together, but I don't. Everyone's got some problems on their plate they're dealing with. You see me flitting around from one lady to the next, thinking to yourself that I'm this hotshot playboy. That ain't the truth, though. Truth is, I can't hold down a stable relationship. You only got a few years with Evelyn... but what you and her had was more than I'll ever experience."
Nick closes his eyes.
"I am jealous, Jojo. Ain't you ever heard that saying? 'Better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.' For all the praise I get, all the talk about how I'm a top-tier soldier... I ain't shit. I'll never know what it means to share the ultimate bond of trust with a nice lady. Not like you and Evelyn."
José purses his lips. "C'mon, Nicky-boy. You're supposed to be the upbeat one. I'm sure you'll find a nice girl someday."
"Maybe. It won't be the same as what you had, though," Nick says matter-of-factly. "You two didn't even have to talk. You could just look into each other's eyes and... and know what the other was thinking. That sort of bond ain't one in a million. It's once in a lifetime."
Nick grits his teeth. "I'm so damn jealous of you, Jojo. And yet, you still constantly mope around, beating yourself up. Nobody blames you. Not me, not even Evelyn. Someday, when I die, even if it's right in the middle of a good fuckin', you'll still blame yourself. Even if you had nothing to do with it. That's the kind of person you are."
José's expression falls. "Don't even talk like that. You'll outlive me for sure."
"Nah. You don't know shit, Jojo," Nick laughs. "One of these days, some starry-eyed bitch is gonna stab me to death. Just you watch, I bet it'll be Marcy. She's always hanging around, eye-fucking me. Even after I tried to let her off easy, that broad is always looking to slit my throat for dumping her."
"Haha!" José laughs, despite the solemn atmosphere from moments before. "Yeah, who knows. You might get done in by one of your past flames. That's the price you pay for being such a womanizer."
Nick raises his rifle. He gestures toward the little girl in the vat. "So. Want me to take this one?"
José nods. "Please."
A moment later, Nick pulls the trigger. The child perishes, while José looks away, unable to watch her death.
As the two men turn and leave, José frowns.
"Say, come to think of it, I don't think I ever asked you this, but it just occurred to me..."
Nick raises an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Evelyn. You'll chase any tail that comes your way. Why, uh... why didn't you go after her?"
Nick slows to a stop. A thoughtful expression passes over his face.
"Huh. Dunno. It just never occurred to me. Maybe my bro-vision cockblocked me."
"Bro-vision?" José asks, skeptically. "Man, sometimes, you say the damnedest shit."
"It's true!" Nick laughs. "We're so close, I can tell what you're thinking about sometimes. That's bro-vision."
"Yeah? So what am I thinking right now?" José asks, smirking.
Nick puts on a thoughtful expression.
"...If my deductions are correct, you're thinking about how delicious a nice, juicy bowl of clam chowder would taste."
José's smile transforms into a scowl. "Fuck you."
"Hahaha! Gotcha again, Jojo!"
José shakes his head. "God, you are such an asshole sometimes."
Nick playfully smacks José's back. "Better hope Ghül's Children never find out about your hatred of clam chowder. They'll turn it into a conditioning phrase for sure."
"No need. You already did."
...
The flesh and blood José sits in his chair, silently watching the memory file as it replays. Tears stream down his face as he recalls the conversation as clearly as if it were yesterday.
"...You always knew, didn't you, Nick? How am I supposed to go on without you? Without Evelyn? Without anyone. I'm not strong like you. I'm weak. Pathetic."
José watches as the holograms continue exterminating all of the experiments. However, his attention drifts away to an unknown location somewhere in the distant reaches of space and time.
"What would you do if it was you sitting here, Nick?"
"What would you say? What would your goal be?"
José's thoughts drift back to the conversation he had with Nick.
"Evelyn. I never found out what happened to her. Maybe it's too late to find out. Maybe I'll never know."
Despite the tears streaming down his face, he smiles.
"Before I die... before my life eventually comes to an end... shouldn't I at least find out what happened? Even if it's a fruitless search. Even if it's a complete waste of my time."
"What else have I to lose?"
...
Despite the grief plaguing the Admiral's heart, a strange sense of melancholy, of peace, seizes his mind. He faintly smiles while gazing past the illusory scene before him.
"That's right. At the least... if I do nothing else... I don't have to fear Central Command and their reprisals. I can find out what happened to Evelyn."
"Yes. That will make all of this pain... worth it."
After shaking the fog from his head, the Admiral speaks again.
"Umi. Play the next memory module."
From overhead, the synthmind's voice speaks.
"Yes, Admiral."
Next Part
.......................................
Author Note:
If you enjoy what you've just read, please consider subscribing to my Patreon! I am very poor and presently jobless due to Coronavirus, so every dollar helps. You get access to Cryopod artwork, and plenty of other exclusive posts, with more to come soon.
Also consider reading The Cryopod to Hell, the primary story in the Cryoverse! Both stories are part of the Cryoverse, so they're deeply interlinked. You don't wanna miss them!
Thank you!

Good Saturday morning to all of you here on wallstreetbets. I hope everyone on this sub made out pretty nicely in the market this past week, and is ready for the new trading week ahead.
Here is everything you need to know to get you ready for the trading week beginning September 21st, 2020.

Markets are expected to be choppy, but dip buyers could be looking at tech favorites in week ahead - (Source)

After another week of losses, tech could be at the heart of a tug of war as dip buyers look for bargains in some of their favorite names and others see the group as still too frothy.
In the past week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both down about 0.6%, the third losing week. It was the S&P 500′s longest losing streak since October. Tech was broadly lower, with Amazon and Facebook both down 5% for the week. Information technology shares lost 1% but communications which includes Facebook and Google fell 2.3% for the week.
“I think every time you’ve had a significant pullback in the familiar names, that tends to draw in more money,” said Ed Keon, chief investment strategist at QMA. “You’ve had a little rotation toward value. That’s a healthy sign for the market. I don’t think that’s an unhealthy market even though stocks look pricey. Given how low interest rates are, stocks look like the only game in town.”
There are also a number of Fed speeches, but the most important will be the appearances by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell before three Congressional committees. At two of those, Tuesday and Thursday, Powell appears with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to discuss coronavirus aid.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities, said he does not expect much from Powell after his comments following the Fed’s meeting this week, though the central bank chairman is likely to once more tell Congress fiscal stimulus is needed to help the economy recover.
Keon said it would be positive if there could be another stimulus deal but the market no longer expects it. “If we do get a deal, that would be really positive. I think at this point, there’s a little bit of a slowdown in news. We still have a ways to go before we get into earnings warnings season. We’re going to worry more about the presidential election and its aftermath,” said Keon.
Keon said investors are increasingly focused on the election and the potential for an uncertain outcome, as states deal with large amounts of mailed ballots for the first time. He said the concern is it could take weeks or months to determine the outcome if the race is close.
“It’s still six weeks to the election. We haven’t had the debates yet. That six weeks is a lifetime. Biden seems to be the favorite at this point, but I don’t think the market is betting on anything but higher volatility,” Keon said. President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden hold their first debate Sept. 29.
“I think volatility is the norm, not the exception, until we get through the election,” said Hogan.
Investors have been hedging against extended volatility after the election. Patrick Kernan, who trades S&P options with Cardinal Capital, said the flow into S&P 500 options for January has been steady over the past several days. “The options markets are implying a contested election that could last until January,” he said. He said the market is not positioning around one candidate or other, just uncertainty.
Goldman Sachs strategists noted Friday that investors have pushed out some hedging further into November, though some investors appear to be betting on an outcome by Dec. 8, the date states with contested elections have to report.
There are also a few important reports on the economic calendar, including housing data on existing home sales Tuesday and new home sales Thursday. “The housing market has been solid and hopefully, we’ll get confirmation of that because people were upset by the decline in housing starts,” said Hogan.
Manufacturing PMI is released Wednesday and durable goods are reported Friday.

This past week saw the following moves in the S&P:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL S&P TREE MAP FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

Major Indices for this past week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR INDICES FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

Major Futures Markets as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR FUTURES INDICES AS OF FRIDAY!)

Economic Calendar for the Week Ahead:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ECONOMIC CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK AHEAD!)

Percentage Changes for the Major Indices, WTD, MTD, QTD, YTD as of Friday's close:

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S&P Sectors for the Past Week:

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Major Indices Pullback/Correction Levels as of Friday's close:

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Major Indices Rally Levels as of Friday's close:

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Most Anticipated Earnings Releases for this week:

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Here are the upcoming IPO's for this week:

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Election Charts You Need To See: Part 2

As we noted last week, the demand for election charts is off the charts (pun intended), so we are sharing some of our favorite election charts.
Without further ado, here are some more election charts you need to know as November 3 inches closer.
How stocks perform three months before the election has a stellar track record of predicting who will win in November. If stocks are higher, the incumbent party tends to win, while if stocks are lower, the incumbent party tends to lose. This indicator accurately predicted the winner 87% of the time (20 of 23) since the late 1920s.

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Building on this, if President Donald Trump is going to win, right about now is when the S&P 500 Index should start to outperform. Of course, if it weakens, it could mean we will be looking at a President Joe Biden soon.

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Speaking of presidents up for re-election, here’s what the S&P 500 historically has done during re-election years.

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Lastly, here are two final charts that may help forecast the outcome.
If real per capita disposable income is higher, the incumbent president usually wins. Conversely, if wages are weak, that bodes well for someone new in the White House. Given real per capita disposable income is up more than 7% this year, it would suggest President Trump should take more than 70% of the votes. Of course, this is greatly skewed due to the CARES Act, so we’d put a major asterisk next to this one.

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To sum up, Gallup poll approval ratings have done a nice job of predicting how many votes a president up for re-election might get. With a 42% Gallup approval rating currently, this comes out to 49% of the total votes for President Trump, which points to a close race.

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Election Charts You Need To See: Part 3

One of the top requests we’ve received the past few weeks is for more charts on the US elections. We shared some of our favorite in Election Charts You Need to See: Part 1 and Part 2, and today’s the third blog in our series on this important event.
S&P 500 Index earnings are expected to jump close to 23% in 2021 according to FactSet, as the global economy recovers. Presidential nominee Joe Biden has made it very clear he will likely hike taxes, which could potentially cut 10 percentage points off earnings growth next year if implemented. If Biden wins, we would expect Chinese tariffs to be removed as well, which would offset some of that impact and according to our friends at Strategas Research Partners would suggest earnings growth of nearly 17%.

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As shown in our LPL Chart of the Day, how the US dollar does ahead of the election has been a great indicator of which party might win in November. If the dollar is weak three months before the election, this bodes well for the incumbent party, while the incumbent party tends to lose if the dollar is strong. This signal has been right 7 of the past 8 elections.
As we saw back in March, when trouble hits, the US dollar tends to do well, as investors flock to the safety of the world’s reserve currency. When things are calm, the dollar tends to weaken, which favors riskier assets. So far, the dollar is slightly lower, which would suggest a potential win for President Donald Trump.

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Also, the size of the tax increase proposed by Joe Biden as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) would be one of the largest ever and rival President Lyndon B. Johnson’s (LBJ) tax increases in the late 1960s. Let’s remember though, if there’s a split Congress, the chances of the full tax plan being implemented is quite slim. Additionally, a weaker economy would also reduce the chances of a large tax hike.

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Seasonal Volatility Just Getting Started

The market's day-to-day volatility has picked up in September after experiencing more stable trading action during the summer months. This is not out of the ordinary. Historically, the most volatile time of the year for stocks has been between September and early November. You can see this in the chart below that shows the average absolute daily percentage change for each trading day of the year beginning on the first trading day of January through the last trading day of December. As shown, daily volatility is very consistent around the +/-0.70% level over the first eight months of the year, but then it starts to pick up beginning in September until it reaches a peak during the first week or two of November. From there, the holiday season takes over and daily volatility plummets right through the end of the year. As shown in the chart, unfortunately we've still got a ways to go to get to the top of the volatility mountain, so make sure you've got your climbing gear ready for the next six to eight weeks!

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Keeping Tabs On High Frequency Growth

The week ended September 11th showed a sharp decline in our index of weekly GDP versus the year before. As shown, our index can be quite volatile, but it does do a decent job tracking the general trajectory of GDP. Since peaking at an implied growth rate of +0.9% YoY on July 10th, our index has slid to -2% YoY, the lowest reading since mid-June.

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Taking a look at another tracker of short-term economic growth, below we show Weekly Economic Index data updated by the New York Fed each week. After decelerating sequentially YoY for the week ended September 4th, the WEI reported sequential YoY growth slower once again in the week ended September 11th. We also show what each high frequency tracker implies about quarterly growth. As shown, our tracker has consistently implied a higher quarterly growth rate than the Weekly Economic Index, and official data for the last two quarters. That said, Q3 is tracking at least 20%, with upside to the high-20s as the US continues to rebound from COVID. This post was originally published in our post-market macro report -- The Closer -- last night.

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Sell(ing) Rosh Hashanah, Buy Yom Kippur

As the High Holidays approach you may remember the old saying on the Street, “Sell Rosh Hashanah, Buy Yom Kippur.” It gets tossed around every autumn when the “high holidays” are on the minds of traders as many of their Jewish colleagues take off to observe the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement.
The basis for this, “Sell Rosh Hashanah, Buy Yom Kippur,” pattern is that with many traders and investors busy with religious observance and family, positions are closed out and volume fades creating a buying vacuum. Even in the age of algorithmic, computer, and high frequency trading these seasonal patterns persist as humans still need to turn the machines on and off and feed them money or take it away – and these algorithms and trading programs are written by people so the human influence is still there.
Holiday seasonality around official market holidays is something we pay close attention to (page 100 Stock Trader’s Almanac). Actual stats on the most observed Hebrew holidays have been compiled in the table here. We present the data back to 1971 and when the holiday falls on a weekend the prior market close is used. It’s no coincidence that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur fall in September and/or October, two dangerous and sometimes opportune months.

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Perhaps it’s Talmudic wisdom but, selling stocks before the eight-day span of the high holidays has avoided many declines, especially during uncertain times. While being long Yom Kippur to Passover has produced 59% more advances, half as many losses and average gains of 6.7%.
This year the high holidays commence on Friday eve, September 18, and end Monday September 28 with Yom Kippur just before Octoberphobia. The current news flow already has folks selling ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, quite possibly setting up the market for further declines.

S&P 500 down 24 of 30 during week after September options expiration, average loss 0.95%

The week after September options expiration week, next week, has a dreadful history of declines most notably since 1990. The week after September options expiration week has been a nearly constant source of pain with only a few meaningful exceptions over the past 30 years. Substantial and across the board gains have occurred just four times: 1998, 2001, 2010 and 2016 while many more weeks were hit with sizable losses.
Full stats are in the following sea-of-red table. Average losses since 1990 are even worse; DJIA –1.01%, S&P 500 –0.95%, NASDAQ –0.95% and a sizable –1.42% for Russell 2000. End-of-Q3 portfolio restructuring is the most likely explanation for this trend as managers trim summer holdings and position for the fourth quarter.

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(CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S MOST NOTABLE EARNINGS RELEASES!)

(CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S HIGHEST VOLATILITY EARNINGS RELEASES!)

Below are some of the notable companies coming out with earnings releases this upcoming trading week ahead which includes the date/time of release & consensus estimates courtesy of Earnings Whispers:

Monday 9.21.20 Before Market Open:

([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())

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Monday 9.21.20 After Market Close:

([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())

(NONE.)

Tuesday 9.22.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Tuesday 9.22.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Wednesday 9.23.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Wednesday 9.23.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Thursday 9.24.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Thursday 9.24.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Friday 9.25.20 Before Market Open:

([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())

(NONE.)

Friday 9.25.20 After Market Close:

([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())

(NONE.)

Costco Wholesale Corp. $335.96

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:15 PM ET on Thursday, September 24, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $2.85 per share on revenue of $52.61 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $2.87 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 74% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 5.95% with revenue increasing by 10.76%. Short interest has decreased by 40.5% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 10.4% from its open following the earnings release to be 8.4% above its 200 day moving average of $310.06. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, September 18, 2020 there was some notable buying of 7,071 contracts of the $340.00 call expiring on Friday, September 25, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 5.0% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 1.7% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

AutoZone, Inc. -

AutoZone, Inc. (AZO) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 6:55 AM ET on Tuesday, September 22, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $24.69 per share on revenue of $3.98 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $24.85 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 59% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 9.30% with revenue decreasing by 0.21%. Short interest has decreased by 6.2% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 3.2% from its open following the earnings release to be 10.0% above its 200 day moving average of $1,095.56. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. Option traders are pricing in a 6.5% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 4.0% move in recent quarters.

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Nike Inc $114.66

Nike Inc (NKE) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:15 PM ET on Tuesday, September 22, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.45 per share on revenue of $9.05 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.47 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 62% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 47.67% with revenue decreasing by 15.10%. Short interest has increased by 1.5% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 16.4% from its open following the earnings release to be 19.1% above its 200 day moving average of $96.30. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, September 18, 2020 there was some notable buying of 2,687 contracts of the $118.00 call expiring on Friday, September 25, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 7.1% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 4.9% move in recent quarters.

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Aurora Cannabis Inc $6.53

Aurora Cannabis Inc (ACB) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:00 PM ET on Tuesday, September 22, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.29 per share on revenue of $54.64 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.36) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 55% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estiamtes are for year-over-year revenue to decline 35.99%. Short interest has decreased by 91.2% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted lower by 21.8% from its open following the earnings release to be 73.6% below its 200 day moving average of $24.77. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, September 18, 2020 there was some notable buying of 1,300 contracts of the $7.00 call expiring on Friday, September 25, 2020.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Rite Aid Corp. $13.44

Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 7:00 AM ET on Thursday, September 24, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.10 per share on revenue of $5.76 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.15 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 67% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 16.67% with revenue increasing by 7.34%. Short interest has decreased by 17.1% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted lower by 7.2% from its open following the earnings release to be 7.6% below its 200 day moving average of $14.54. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 there was some notable buying of 858 contracts of the $12.00 call expiring on Friday, September 25, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 20.6% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 22.5% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

General Mills, Inc. $57.32

General Mills, Inc. (GIS) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 7:00 AM ET on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.87 per share on revenue of $4.16 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.90 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 74% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 10.13% with revenue increasing by 3.94%. Short interest has decreased by 7.8% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted lower by 5.2% from its open following the earnings release to be 0.8% below its 200 day moving average of $57.76. Overall earnings estimates have been unchanged since the company's last earnings release. Option traders are pricing in a 6.5% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 2.5% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

CarMax, Inc. $103.07

CarMax, Inc. (KMX) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 6:50 AM ET on Thursday, September 24, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.96 per share on revenue of $5.17 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $1.06 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 54% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 31.43% with revenue decreasing by 0.60%. Short interest has decreased by 22.1% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 4.7% from its open following the earnings release to be 17.6% above its 200 day moving average of $87.67. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. Option traders are pricing in a 8.0% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 4.9% move in recent quarters.

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Stitch Fix, Inc. $28.36

Stitch Fix, Inc. (SFIX) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Tuesday, September 22, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.18 per share on revenue of $415.11 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.14) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 56% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for revenue of at least $433.00 million. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 357.14% with revenue decreasing by 3.94%. Short interest has decreased by 9.3% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 23.1% from its open following the earnings release to be 26.7% above its 200 day moving average of $22.38. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, September 18, 2020 there was some notable buying of 4,160 contracts of the $23.00 put expiring on Friday, September 25, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 21.0% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 11.0% move in recent quarters.

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Aytu BioScience, Inc. $1.38

Aytu BioScience, Inc. (AYTU) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Thursday, September 24, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.05 per share on revenue of $10.90 million. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 62% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 96.15% with revenue increasing by 535.20%. Short interest has decreased by 39.4% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted lower by 22.9% from its open following the earnings release to be 13.8% above its 200 day moving average of $1.21. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 3.5% move on earnings in recent quarters.

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JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. $24.50

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JKS) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 6:40 AM ET on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.40 per share on revenue of $1.07 billion. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 53% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 122.22% with revenue increasing by 6.26%. Short interest has decreased by 7.4% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 46.1% from its open following the earnings release to be 20.7% above its 200 day moving average of $20.30. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, August 28, 2020 there was some notable buying of 507 contracts of the $22.00 put and 502 contracts of the $25.00 call expiring on Friday, October 16, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 11.4% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 7.5% move in recent quarters.

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DISCUSS!

What are you all watching for in this upcoming trading week?
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a great trading week ahead wallstreetbets.