Hello and welcome back to the latest Brawls of Steel report. 
This week was anything but stellar for the brawlers of SoG. There were a few standout performances to be proud of, but tough competition from up-and-coming guilds caught us off-guard. After all was said and done, SoG took 4th place. Respect to our friends at The Guild of Neoxian who came in first, well above the rest of the pack.
Despite the lower-than-expected finish, SoG has still been performing at near all-time highs lately. Currently we're 3rd in the overall ranking behind Immortal Gods and Team Possible. Overall we're down from the #2 spot since the last report.
The TOP 5 PERFORMERS for SoG this brawl (according to win/loss %) were 
The Bottom 5 Performers (excluding Gold Foil frays) were 
Turning now to all-time member performance (over all recorded brawls), we can see 
Next, let's take a look at some individual performances, starting with two of our top performers this brawl: champion-slayer (7-2) and star-shroud (5-2).
There was an especially fun match played between champion-slayer's team and divinefury's team from the Monster's Nest guild. The Fray 5 spot (bronze/chaos legion only) was a relatively high 46 mana battle with ARMORED-UP ruleset. Both players used Chaos Legion summoners, with champion-slayer choosing Quix the Devious and Wave Brood (Taunt) for the tank position. Wave Brood was supported by Merdaali Guardian as a tank heal in the back-line.
It was a fire-fight folks. River Hellondale even had to resurrect Wave Brood. After that though, it was smooth sailing. In the end, Wave Brood remained standing and champion-slayer's team didn't lose a single monster. Fire, Water and Dragon were the available splinters. The full battle can be viewed on the Hive blockchain here.
In my brawls, having gladius cards made a huge difference. Arguably, there is no card in the game more powerful that epic earth gladius Quora Towershead when she's paired with Lama Mage as summoner. In two of my brawl battles, I just let the two of them do their work. Quora racked up some unbelievable stats by activating the Bloodlust ability multiple times (see battles here and here). And this is just Quora LEVEL 1. It's hard to even imagine how hard she'll be to stop when she levels up to gain Immunity. There seems to be little debate: Quora is a must-have gladius card.
Turning next to SoG's top performer this week, let's look at a battle from the newest SoG brawler ducecrypto (4-1). We'll also take a look at an interesting battle from shadowwolf (3-4).
First, we see ducecrypto in the Fray 14 spot (bronze/GoldFoil/modern) facing-off with change2improve from HD2 Marauders of Crom in a mid-level 22 mana match with FOG OF WAR and HEALED OUT rulesets. Using chaos legion summoner (and general fire-starter) Tarsa, ducecrypto summoned a rare and sought-after Gold Foil Chain Golem to the tank position. As a reminder, Chain Golem is a legendary neutral monster from the Untamed series. There are only 270 Gold Foils in circulation.
Chain Golem was the stronger of the tanks, holding up against heavy-fire while the back-line delivered its damage through opportunity attacks and a pair of scavos. In the end, change2improve's Pelacor Arbelast was left wishing it was a CLOSE-RANGE ruleset. Fire, Life and Dragon were the available splinters. The full battle can be viewed on the Hive blockchain here.
Another particularly fun battle was played between shadowwolf488's team in Fray 10 (silver/modern) and oxclion's team from Monster's Nest. It was a mid-to-high level 42 mana battle with EXPLOSIVE WEAPONRY (Blast) and AIM TRUE (True Strike) rulesets. Fire, Water, Life and Dragon were the available splinters.
Dice summoner Lorna Shine might have initially looked outmatched by the iconic and legendary dragon summoner Byzantine Kitty, but shaddowwolf488's choice to summon Uriel the Purifier as tank was a pivotal move that turned the tables on kitty. The massive blast damage Uriel dealt out every other turn proved too much for that really big whale Baakjira and company to handle. In the end, Uriel was still left standing. The full battle can be viewed on the Hive blockchain here.
Because of our mediocre finish, the spoils weren't amazing this week but every little bits helps. We received 30 crowns for the guild and 1,875 merits for each participating brawler. We'll be aiming for a higher payout next time!
Looking at fray-by-fray statistics, SoG still seems to be struggling in the lower level matches with bronze league caps. Compared to even a few weeks ago though, the numbers are trending in a positive direction.
Finally, a huge howl out to Shadowwolf488 for designing a badge and mascot for our guild. We're still debating a name for the mascot, although the current forerunner is "Aegis." Suggestions and commentary are welcome below.
In the meantime, keep grinding, keep brawling, and keep supporting each other on our path to glory!