Ambush: The Hades Tigers, Evolved
Author: Aziz Boatman
It’s been seven Seasons since the Hades Tigers won their second Internet Series Championship all the way back in Season 4. It’s been a long time coming. Hades clawed its way to win number three. The Tigers have finally evolved.
After the return of Internet League Blaseball, Season 12 was a healthy reminder that the Hades Tigers are a ferocious threat on the field. But as any fan should know, anything and everything can happen in Internet League Blaseball.
After the Tigers’ evolution, the team as a whole gained a new, unique Modification: Ambush. This enhancement promises that for every incineration during a Tigers game, one player from the Hall of Flame will find themself in the Tigers’ shadows. The catch? The Tigers already share a protective Sealant that prevents any of their players being incinerated.
Blaseball is legally classified as a bloodsport, and players know their lives could be on the line. Still, tensions might run high in future games, where players may wonder if the Ambush will activate.
But just how often will we really see this in play? Season 12 introduced much fewer cases of incineration than the Discipline Era had prepared us to expect: two in total, with the incinerations of Joshua Butt and Case Sports (RIV), of the Chicago Firefighters and the Mexico City Wild Wings. A lot of moving parts need to come into place here: the Tigers, the Eclipse, and a rogue umpire firing at someone other than a Tiger. I have my doubts that we’ll see the Tigers’ Ambush in action often.
Representatives of the Tigers have gone on record to assure rivals and anti-rivals alike that they will not intentionally try to goad any rogue umpires to attack during play. Pinch hitter and Hades native Usurper “Ultraviolet” Violet has been overheard commenting on fan speculation, “We’re from the Underworld. If anyone knows not to mess with attempted murder, we do.”
In collaboration with the team, the Hades Ministry of Tourism has officially agreed to relax their famously strict, no-exceptions migration policy for the sake of the splort’s continued expansion.
Plus, as we’ve seen after this first season in the Expansion Era, the shadows seem to have been getting more and more fluid, and not just because of all the flooding. With the introduction of Wills, the fans have even had the choice to try to tag in specific players. One Tigers player, Matteo Triumphant, has already been brought in and welcomed onto the active lineup.
But Hall of Flame players? These are the players we venerate with chants of “Rest In Violence,” a phrase coined in honor of the loss of Landry Violence, the first player to be incinerated during a Championship game. Landry was a superstar in his time and remained a beloved Tiger fixture throughout his career. He’s been Released from the Immaterial Plane since, but we still pay Tribute in honor of the fallen in the Hall. We haven’t had reason to expect their return since the Hall Stars were conscripted to fight against the Shelled One.
Ambush is no Necromancy. This is a League-approved part of play. At the very least, this is a promise that we may very well see some long-lost faces return in the future – perhaps even Joshua Butt or Case Sports. I for one will welcome any familiar faces around the Underworld.
