I started off my Quake career playing vs CTF bots over a serial cable with Rep. Soon afterwards, we were introduced to TF by our friend, Tricky (he was in Jedi Knights at the time). This was around.... March 1997.. TF was still 2.15 at the time. So Rep and I gave TF a shot, and we soon became addicted to Brainscan's TF, maxclients 8 :) One day, while refreshing servers with QPlug on the old 28.8 (i hadn't gotten qspy yet), I ran across what seemed to be... a match! The match was on 2fort4, 12 on 12. I couldn't imagine so many players in a game. I hastily clicked the observe button,. and was transported into the game. What I saw changed the way I viewed computer games. It was a match between Dark Vengeance and Braveheart. I was instantly dazzled by DV's unreal skills. [DV]Malice and [DV]Antonin quickly became my TF idols. They would RJ up to the deck, kill 2-3 people, grab the flag, and be gone before anyone knew any better. It was incredible, BH didn't even stand a chance.  After this game, I hastily threw together a clan with Replicant, e/X (Electronic Execution), after seeing a match in action. e/X did ok.. I met some people who are still around today, like Eronan[M], but more importantly, I grew closer to DV.

e/X had built itself up to a decent level by now. Our LPB sniper (and friend) Tricky, had dominated in the USA vs Canada game against the likes of Mr.Buzzcut[OSKI], and very soon made a name for himself. One day, I setup a scrimmage with Dark Vengeance. 2fort4, 2x30, the usual. While DV wooped our ass, I was once again awed by the level of organization and skill. While me, the lowly ramp room defender, didn't kill shit all, Tricky absolutely FLOORED [DV]IcE and [DV]Antonin. I became friends with Ant, and we talked about Quake related things often. Shit hit the fan, and eventually e/X broke up. Eronan wanted me to join UN, but Tricky wanted to shoot for DV. We approached Antonin, and he was very happy (to say the least), that Tricky wanted to join. In short, my 28.8 ass only got in because DV wanted Tricky, heh. I could accept the fact though, I was in DV! The clan of my dreams! (this was around August 97).

I soon learned soldier from Antonin and Malice. Heh, simple things like "preprimed grenades" were a new and incredible weapon to me. I would stay up late at night and play Arena vs Ant and get my ass kicked badly. He always consoled me though, not to hurt my spirit. DV dominated Dragon Warz 2, and it was here where I gained all my match knowledge. Even though I was a) HPB and b) sucked badly, Ant still let me play front door defense. And while I couldn't hit shit all... things were about to change. In november 97 I got my cable modem. This was the turning point for me. The first match I played LPB in was DW2 vs CE i believe. I couldn't believe it! It was like a sack of bricks had been taken off my shoes. I was now making incredible shots and my grenades never missed! My 3 am beatdowns from Antonin turned into landslides for me! I no longer feared Malice's soldiering, or D-ToX's demoman skills. Not to sound cocky, but I was a new TF player. I would play on the DV pub server and end up with around 100 kills in 30 minutes as a soldier. It was always a frag contest when DV played on their pub server, and I _BLAZED_ by them all.

In december, DV defeated BH for the DW2 championship! Yay! Well, sort of. DV had burnt itself out. We no longer played any matches, and did not participate in any leagues. For 2 months I sat content to slowly improve my skills playing on DV pub. But this inactivity spurred many internal clan problems. Namely, Nadholio and ThePimp had far too much time on their hands to trivialize things. Around this time, Iron Curtain came into power. Spawned from UN, they instantly started where DV took off and dominated the clan scene-- although, DV was inactive, but they still won DW2, yes? So there was a challenge, DV vs IC. 2fort5, 2x30.

Unfortunately, DVs inactivity had gotten the best of them, and somewhat suspiciously this match was played during a DV lanparty at Florida State. Having 6-7 people lanned to the server greatly diminished the joy of the win. Nonetheless, it was close, 40 frags I believe, but my front door soldiering had caught the attention of a few ICs, namely Mr.Bungle and Suntzu. (february 98) Iparty and pickup games soon became the rage on gamesnet, and (not to sound cocky), I became popular as a defensive soldier. The Apocalypse tournament was starting, and DV declined their invitation.

I really wanted to play in this, and combined with other internal problems in the clan, I quit. The grass is always greener, right? Well, Sunztu and Mr.Bungle spoke their magic words, and convinced Replicant and I to join Iron Curtain. So, we did. (march 98) IC was a totally different environment. Freedom of speech! Camaraderie! Wow, culture shock. DV was a very mature and serious clan, and all the goofs in IC were quite shocking. Nonetheless, IC prospered, and we won the Apocalypse (Apoc=best of the best tourney) tournament undefeated. Now we come to Paragon. I don't want to sound cocky here, but this is what actually happened. One weekend I was bored. CrimsonDawn and Baowuf had been flashing their >Ps to the clan for a while, so I decided I wanted one. I talked to Alc about it, and he told me to 1v1 some ppl and make myself known on square1. I started off with clanmates, like Hellsent, Eronan, and NavySeal, then soon moved on to other popular soldiers, like ]MP[Yagami, lanfear[M], CrimsonDawn-IC-. Baowuf-IC-, Alcohol[M], and Mr.Buzzcut.

Well, in one weekend, I had played a shitload of sq1, and I didn't lose once. My closest at this time was lanfear, who I managed to squeak by, by 1 or 2 frags. Needless to say, this caught the attention of Skintech, and my >P was given :D (May-June 98). Well, at the hight of my skill and TF career, there had to be a downfall. It was Final Fantasy 7- just released for the PC. For a month, I did not play Quake. Simple. When I had finished the game, my skills had GREATLY diminished. I still to this day do not think I've recovered from where I was in May/June of 98. When I came back, IC was a different clan. Crim/Bao/7/Suntzu/Bungle/Tsao had splintered off with that dipshit KingKong to form d3fiance (d3fectors as they are affectionately called). The leadership and structure had changed, as well as the attitude of the clan.

No longer was it WIN, it was "have fun and enjoy yourself". This didn't really sit well with me, but despite my inactivity I still felt some sort of guilt. (July 98). Then came AFTERSHOCK, a large lanparty in Toronto, Canada. A _TON_ of IC guys came (Rep/me/Att/Navy/Puff/Anfernee/BH/Lang/Ero/Rat/Hate), as well as others, like DownLoaD and Karsiss of the IGL. It was a blast and the IC team won the TF division clearly (Anf had 205 frags in 1 game!!), but we also had some great fun with Rainbow 6.

But times were changing, and while IC in person was a ton of fun, IC on the internet was decaying. Members declaring their taste for TF, people going to college, and disagreements with new members made life miserable. (August/September 98) Then [DV]SunBlade messaged me on IRC one night. DV was planning to purge the fat from their clan in an effort to become a TF power again. I mentioned this to a few other ICs, and the idea of a merge came up. Thus #icdv +k secret was formed. Some ICs and DVs talked for 1-2 weeks about this. I was thrilled with the opportunity to play with my old friends again, as the IC "mindframe" was driving me kind of insane. Well, after another match with DV, Antonin declined to merge, and left SunBlade rather unhappy.

So we formed a new clan. A fresh start, if you will. Purge the members that caused problems or were going inactive anyways, and rebuild. We became Aftermath. (hence the 'Aftermath of the DV and IC game') (October 98) Aftermath was VERY VERY competitive. "Win at all costs. Frag and snipe the enemy into a hole--whatever it takes to WIN. WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN". And while this was great at the time, I mean, we had the IGL:Teamscore title, the ASTFL title, and the IGL:Frags and Flags title, not to mention we were the #1 ranked clan on the TFCNN. AM was also defeated Finish ultra power Clan Vallasherra in an intercontinental exhibition match on 2fort5r. Aftermath went 20 and 0 against top ranked clans. But- the pressure was slowly building. We had made enemies along the way, and they were determined to see us fail. Our friends at d3fiance (who felt the wrath of the IC split on 2f5) and Gothic Terror (don't know, we just never got along) were a few examples of grudges that added to the building pressure. And, as one can expect, we finally blew. We dropped 4 or so games almost consecutively, and had a few players take off to join d3fiance.

This all coincided with the coming christmas break, and due to our large college base, we were forced to go inactive. (december 98). Aftermath came out of inactivity a different clan. Gone were the hotheaded SLPB soldiers who bitched and whined. Gone were the aspirations to have a stranglehold on the TF community, and gone was the pressure. A few roster additions, and a new leadership headed by Cabal, and AM was a new clan. Camaraderie and fulfillment are the new priorities, with winning coming as an added bonus. The words "everyone will get to play" were almost laughed at back in October, but now they were being exercised. For once, everyone felt happy. It was like going LPB again, all the needless weight and fat had been lifted.

The great thing was though, that despite the new mindframe and attitude of the clan, we could still woop some ass. A convincing 10-0 win on 2fort5r against Marauder set the gears in motion for a more organized and cap happy clan. (Jan99) My distaste for the TF community had stayed with me over the break unfortunately. The absurdity of other clans and its members really struck me, and instead of starting shit, I now reside in the private aftermath channel only. I can usually still be /msged as AM-Meat though. I won't get into who and why so many other clans disgust me, but I firmly believe in a 3 tier clan system. The uppercrust, middlecrust, and lowercrust, and clans that talk or act like they are in the level above them should be SHOT. But I digress. My 2 years of TF playing has made me an excellent strategist, and insightful advisor to Cabal.

I research clans before we play them so we can best field an effective strategy. What I love about TF are my clanmates and actual match preparation. The community and politics suck ass. Short shoutout: Main props go to Sinister (Jesus christ you are the best HPB ever to play, funniest too), Badness (my arenaX hoe), lanfear[M] (for tips on leadership and guidance), [DV]Antonin (for jump starting my TF career and giving me a chance), Langolier (for generally being THE MAN and telling the TF community who's boss), SunBlade (for his theory on other clans and their sexual orientation), Hate (I take credit for his skills now :P), Replicant (for quitting the clans I join J/K!!), Anfernee (for being a baaad mother fucker), Tarrant (for being the best league admin I've ever seen [TAKE OVER THE IGL]), and Cabal (for being not only an excellent leader but very close and understanding friend). I should also thank the 400,000 odd people I've killed, gibbed, or eviscerated on DV pub-- you guys got me where I am today! :p

Still going strong AM-MeatHook>P