QCS wrote:

GoRedSox96 wrote:

I have never been to Montreal but I have seen pictures of the city and there is no volcano there to my knowledge so I don’t get the branding for this team.

Well, I'm not IDM so I can't say for sure, but from reading their explanation for the Magma, Mount Royal (the mountain/hill the city was built on) is volcanic, meaning it has magma underneath. Obviously it's not active, but I encourage you to read a creator's explanation of a team's design, usually they'll state their inspiration for the team there.

Yup! That's exactly it. The name isn't exactly the strongest tie to Montréal, but I thought putting the cross on top would help identify it to locals as Mount Royal.

Steelman wrote:

Ok, I see you bro. Take all the things I don't associate with Montreal and package them up into a kickass design that somehow makes me an instant believer. Wow. Such detail across this whole set. This is how you do it, folks. Take notes.

You know I'm critical, haha, but I honestly have no critiques. You addressed the issue with Toronto's striping, which I also like from a rivalry standpoint. New team comes in and does their own version. That's pretty ballsy by Montreal. I love how you instituted the cross into the team initials. The magma chamber shorts are awesome. Love the usage of the tri-color in the numbers. OK, I do have one suggestion. Perhaps an orange collar on the black jersey. That home court design is hawtttt. Killed this one, man. Nice work!

Thanks! I liked the idea of an orange collar too, but for some reason, it doesn't look as good as I thought it would in my head. Here it is if you want to see it, but I'm gonna stick with the black.

ZO82 wrote:

If you want to do the French version, it's Magma de Montreal

The reason the wordmark reads "Magma Montréal" is because it's not quite English or French, but it's easily discernible to speakers of both languages.

In 2022, the Nashville Fugitives went 21-29 and missed the playoffs by just four games. In 2025, the Atlanta Records one-upped them, making the playoffs in their first season. In 2028 … both expansion teams finished in the bottom two spots in the league. In the new 64-game season, Montréal won just 5 games while Boston won only 3, in a rather forgettable first step for both teams. Joining them at the bottom was an LA team in its first year under new ownership who went 6-58, continuing their stay in the league’s doldrums. Those three teams combined for two wins against the rest of the league, with the Magma taking down the Hogs in Toronto and the Commodores beating the Records in Atlanta. With those three teams aside, though, the remaining teams were all rather competitive, and it made for an entertaining season.

Atop the standings once again, the Philadelphia Row spent 2028 putting together their best year in franchise history, going 63-1, with only a single loss to the Redbacks keeping them from accomplishing the league’s third undefeated season. The three remaining Oarsmen (F/K Ray Thomas, B/ZB Kenton Snowberger, and W/ZB Zebedeo Perilla) were all on the top of their game, and several people, most notably F/K Chris Gray and W/ZBs Issaq Davis and Ellis Alcala, made pushes to be the fourth, but as of now, no consensus has been reached. Regardless, they’re the favorites to win it all. Their divisional rivals from just up I-95 weren’t fazed, though, as New York made the leap from squeaking into the playoffs with 13 wins to a dangerous-looking fifth seed with 43 wins in a single year. That 30 wins is a bit deceiving given that they played 14 more games than last year, but their win percentage, which went from .260 to .672, is impressive enough to stand on its own.

Of course, the Redbacks weren’t about to allow the Row to claim an undefeated season, and they weren’t about to miss the mark by all that much themselves, finishing 60-4 and with the 2 seed. B/K Semarias Garcia claimed his sixth (!) consecutive OPOTY award, and the signings of W/ZB Larry Whitt and W/C Elide Amigazzi paid off well. Interestingly, the team decided to trade B/C Tiziano Torres midseason, sending him to Toronto in exchange for B/ZB Dan Kirkpatrick and W/C Ernie Starling, a move that may signal a final push to try to claim another championship or two before their window finally closes. While we’re on the Hogs, Torres wasn’t quite enough to push Toronto back into the playoffs, but a 23-41 record represents a marked improvement over the last few years. California was in a similar position, and was just one spot and four games out of a return to the playoffs, but couldn’t quite get it done, but are certainly trending in the right direction after last year’s disaster.

Meanwhile, with only Montréal and Toronto in their division, Chicago ran away with the North. B/ZB Tony Bennett came in second in MVP voting, while B/ZB Al Eaton continued balling out and B/C Ralph Rashke and F/C Greg Bauer both had career years. Their easy division may have gifted them the third seed, with just two games separating them from Nashville, who claimed the fourth seed. F/C Michel Blanchard narrowly beat out his former teammate to win his second consecutive MVP (and his second consecutive DPOTY award), and W/K Will Orleans was just as dangerous, if not more at times. The South Division, though, was a rather tricky one to navigate, as Atlanta, Miami, and Orlando all gave them fits throughout the season. Miami ultimately got the sixth seed, while Atlanta once again snuck in at #8, just one game behind a Seattle team that floundered without F/ZB Walt Duncan or B/ZB James Terry for much of the year. This left Orlando once again on the outside looking in, though like many of the teams that just missed the playoffs, things are heading back in the right direction.

While I never thought I'd root for a Yankees-esque team, it's not my fault that Texas dominates so much. AHTR.

It's gonna get better for the Commodores and Magma, I know it...I'm rootin' for the Frost (until Minnesota's team begins play next year).

But really, I'm on the "anyone but Texas" bandwagon too.