It has been another drama-filled 8 weeks since the last major recap, with more shock losses, suprising wins and roster shuffles.
Some of the biggest news was that of Heads on Sticks, Violent eXcess and Nesreca disbanding, and Forceful Insertions' leader (Arbee) walking away from the team, which prompted a number of others to jump ship as well. Four hos players (Arc, Jimmy, Guv, Rec) have now moved to Psychedelic Noxious Pugnacity, while others currently weigh up opportunities elsewhere. Remaining fi members do plan on rebuilding the team, while Arbee sets sail with his new clan venture; Reign. Nesreca players on the flip-side seem to have lost interest in Team Fortress 2, and for the most part have dissapeared from the scene entirely.
Looking at things positively; what this does mean, is that paired with other team splits and individual players breaking ties (Fazz from Symbolic and Ishy from PnP to name just a couple), that there are many freelance agents roaming which will hopefully see the rise of another team, or at least give existing teams the opportunity to fill some of their roster holes.
On to the ladder recap, reviewing the status of the teams everyone has their eye on...MAD DOGZ now sit pretty in 1st position after a huge streak of impressive wins against the likes of Nesreca, Angry Power Rangers, Forceful Insertions, Heads on Sticks and most recently Psychedelic Noxious Pugnacity. They'll be tough to beat, but should no doubt expect a worthy challenge from either Hyphen Gaming or Egotistical in coming days.
Hyphen Gaming, also on a tremendously impressive winning streak are now placed right behind the Dogz in 2nd. Since last updated they've toppled both Angry Power Rangers and Panopticon Conspiracy once more. Currently enganged in a defence challenge versus Egotisical set to take place tonight, we'll either see their run dislodged, or their position comfortably concreted for another week or so.
Angry Power Rangers have impressed many in recent times, with some solid wins outside of the GameArena ladder, including one against Hyphen. They're placed 3rd after stealing Egotistical's place on the ladder, partly due to them playing a man down.
Egotistical, the clan that much of the public hyped up to be one that would conquer Australian TF2, have lept up the ladder with what could have been a clean-streak of wins, if it wasn't for their recent loss to Angry Power Rangers. They're now situated in 4th postion, and tonight will attempt to steal 2nd from Hyphen Gaming.
Clan-A have made a suprising entrance into the top 5, defeating Adversus 5-0 and Symbolic 5-3. They'll now be defending their 5th place spot against Psychedelic Noxious Pugnacity on the 18th.
Symbolic moved up into the top 5, but have dropped to 6th after the aforementioned loss to Clan-A, which was no doubt effected by their inability to field a full team for the game. Prior to that, a streak of wins was had including a 3-2 victory over Fang with Vengance, which saw them shoot up ladder ranks in quicker succession during the past 6 weeks than any period before.
Psychedelic Noxious Pugnacity, previous keepers of the number 1 spot, have conceded their first ladder loss, which was to the MAD DOGZ on cp_well, and was followed by a technical-forfeit due to not submitting the loss-result within the time appropriated by the ladder system. Now in 7th and challenging Clan-A's 5th, they hope to move back into the top 3 with haste.
Fang with Vengance now sit in 12th, two better than last recap. In that time they've had 3 wins, but narrowly missed out on additional successful results against Egotistical (3-6) and Symbolic (2-3), and had an unfortunate forfeit loss against Bruz where they were almost-assured victors. They're challenging Team ACCSL for 8th tommorrow night, wihch should finally see them in a deserved top-10 position.
Adversus seem to have fallen far from the tree, with losses to z0r, Bruz, Clan-A and even Eternal Soldiers. They're now back in 16th, and after a promising start, leaves most of us wondering how and why? Without any inside information obtained, we can only jump to personal assumptions, but through the public's eye it looks like it's all over for this team.
That wraps it all up for the time being, but pay close attention to the Egotistical vs Hyphen Gaming match tonight, which should be a cracker of a game!