July 16th, 1999

New Ladder is up! Keep your eyes peeled on the new OGL TFC ladder as clans rush to get their challenges in. The OGL TF1 ladder is also open for business with some established names already signed up.

Behind the Scenes I'll be going to a funeral out of town Friday so there won't be any updates until Friday night, if at all.

July 15th, 1999

TFC is friendly KiN has their hands full this week. CE on Sunday then a double header on Monday for the STA. Tresmer (STA Admin and KiN member) wanted to straighten out any confusion or misunderstandings about the STA rescheduling so here's the scoop: "KiN vs. GoH is rescheduled. This match will be played after our regular scheduled match next Monday, July 19th. We will have a double header. First, KiN vs. BlkSun 2x30 @ 8:30 CDT, then KiN vs. GoH 1x45 @ 9-10? (after the first 2 rounds with BlkSun end). Normally rescheduled matches in STA-TFC must be played before Thursday of that same week. The one week delay and 1x45 decision was reached with the arbitration of STA Coordinator, GRB. I passed it to him because KiN was involved and I didn't want to have any appearance of impropriety or conflict of interest. KiN has the server choice because of the higher ranking and it will be played on their home server." Thanks Tresmer.

Top Ten Tournament news Nemo, the admin of the Top 10 Tournament, sent in the week one wrap up. It looks like this tourney is here to stay:

News from the Top10 tournament:
Week 1 went off with a bang! We have 15 teams in the tourney now and there were 5 matches played this week. This time it was Darkness, 2x30, teamplay 11. The scores were as follows:

Coup de Grace [CdG] over Decoys of Hostililty [DoH]
- Game 1: 6/1 Game 2: 22/8 Total: 28/9
Total Harmonic Destruction [THD] over Delta Force [DF]
- Game 1: 33-14 Game 2: 1/0 (forfeited by DF) Total: 34-14
Demons of the Apocalypse [DoA] over Meilleurs Assassins du Québec [MaQ]
- Game 1: 21/5 Game 2: 14/27 Overall: 35/32
Cogent Alliance [CA] over Wolf Clan [WOLF]
- Game 1: 2/2 Game 2: 20/6 Overall: 22/8

Next week, we play Darkness again. Then, its two weeks of Run. We have 15 teams set to go for next week. We still are looking for some more good teams. Is your clan ready to be in the Top10?
-Nemo (ICQ 31489823)
Top10 home page: topten.clannexus.com/topten/topten.htm

New ladder debut Shaggy sent word that the new OGL ladder is scheduled to open later tonight. I'll let him say it: "Should be open tonight if all goes well. I'm getting it going asap." Once it opens, expect to see a mad rush of challenges as clans hatch their devious plots of ascension.

DownLoaD speaks...and speaks There's a gigantic update on the IGL news page covering all sorts of subjects. Among other things, the future map rotation is in question, so perhaps you'll want to make your voice heard on that issue. DownLoaD is also looking for someone who can help him with updating the website in a more timely manner. If you think you have what it takes give him a ring.

Daily Tip Holding clan practices on public servers isn't a very effective way of honing strategies. The style of play you encounter on public servers is usually nothing like what you'll face in real match play. If you're short on numbers, rather than practice in public games, try going offense vs. defense, or try focusing on one specific aspect of the map which you want to practice defending or taking.

July 14th, 1999

IGL Schedule Posted With Invectus3 being thrown out of the rotation, replaced by Well, the dark cloud that was beginning to form over the IGL (due to trepidation about the new map) has suddenly been replaced with blue skies and chirping birds. There are some great matchups scheduled, and apparently six or seven new clans in the league this week.

Tresmer cracks the whip The STA had its most dismal week to date, with only two matches played, and only one that didn't end in forfeit or rescheduling. As a result, Tresmer, the league admin, put his foot down. Here's a snippet of the whip cracking found on the STA homepage: "There will be no more forfeiting in this league. I will not post another forfeit result. If you can not play, you will be removed." The latest STA schedule has been posted, as well. We'll have more on some of those matches in the upcoming days.

Comic relief If you missed the -CW- vs. C-E mixup from yesterday's match results you should take a look. Funny stuff.

Zodiac Braves on the warpath Despite the downtime of the OGL Ladder (as it upgrades), the Zodiac Braves managed to square off against the Agression Rangers in a titanic OGL battle that lasted four rounds and was played on four different maps. After the smoke [signals] cleared, ZB emerged victorious and moved their record to 9-0. The big question now is who they will challenge when the new ladder opens up on Thursday(?).

Invectus drowned in the Well DownLoaD, an IGL TFC admin, has made an important alteration in the immediate map rotation of the IGL. Invectus3 is *out*. Here's the word:

"News flash (though I'd send it to TFCNN before I put it up on the page)

Invectus 3 was take out of the rotation, and is being replaced by The Well (well6).

This map was chosen for many reasons
- Map has been played before and is not that much of a surprise to clans
- People actually LIKE it
- Next in line after Invectus

Also note (if you look at the IGL schedule) that the maps are now played 2 weeks each, except for the new maps.
This was suggested by Barker, and will be implemented. This map rotation will "move the rotation quicker in general, and yet allow the new maps to be played for an extra week."

DownLoaD
IGL TFC Admin."

Daily Tip Respect league administrators and let them know you appreciate the work that they put into running the league. The death of any good tournament or league begins when the adminstration starts slacking off. That usually occurs after admins get tired of hearing non-stop complaints and arguments among clans and about the league. To help counteract that frustration you should let the admins know that the work they do is really valued and that you enjoy playing in their league.

July 12th, 1999

Invectus3=InvectusFinal PlagueBearer, author of the map Invectus3 (which is going into IGL rotation starting next week), has informed TFCNN that there will be *no* new version of the map coming out. Originally an update was planned, but here's what happened: "The next version I've tried to build five times, and each time it suffered a catastrophic compile error." So the revision has been shelved for good and Invectus3 will remain how it is. Which means....

Showdown of the Champions With both CE and KiN winning their IGL matches Sunday night, these two undefeated clans will face off against each other on Invectus3 next Sunday in the IGL. These two clans are good friends and have scrimmaged a few times together, but you can bet that the tension level will be off the charts come match time.

Daily Tip If you or one of your clanmates isn't tweaking their TFC settings for best play then you're playing at a disadvantage. A lot of the lag and framerate problems many complain about in TFC can be drastically reduced by changing a few game settings. A good config to start with can be found on The Grassy Knoll. Just be very careful using it as it could wreck your bindings if you're not careful.

July 11th, 1999

Gametime! With the OGL in transition to a new ladder, and the IGL on vacation last week, it's been sort of slow in these parts lately. But have no fear, it's gametime tonight as 20 clans from the IGL battle it out in the final week of Darkness play. The final week of a map's rotation is usually the most interesting. Clans have had time to develop and test their strategies and are chomping at the bit to overwhelm their unsuspecting opponent. Expect some good matches tonight. The scores will be posted here at TFCNN as they come in later in the evening.

OGL Madness The OGL is upgrading their ladder system and it's causing an amazing amount of confusion and misinformation. Suffice it to say that until the end of next week we won't be receiving too many match results from the OGL. However, when everything is back in order, the OGL action should be better than ever. After a few months the cream has finally risen to the top. With the competition level noticeably better at the top of the ladder every match becomes a slugfest.

Daily Tip Update your homepage! Your clan's homepage should give some ongoing indication of the state that your clan is in. Go out on a limb and assume that people are visiting the site, then give them something to read. The main thing you want to convey is a sense that your clan is alive and thriving. The site doesn't need to be updated everyday but it shouldn't be updated on a consistent basis with some of the current events going on in your clan.

July 8th, 1999

STA Match of the Week Oh it's going to be a good battle Monday night in the STA. Undefeated Kindred goes up against undefeated Gods of Hate in a Darkness showdown. GoH has been surprisingly quiet over the last few weeks, with hardly an update on their homepage or a peep on the messageboards. Perhaps facing off with a TFC Goliath will give them something to talk about.

Plugging the competition If you want even more clan coverage than you receive here at TFCNN the TF Times is steadily expanding their scope. Right now on the Top 15 page they're giving clan scene coverage somewhat similar to what we do here. Go give it a try, you might like it.

Leader Board Rumblings It was a wild night in the OGL Wednesday with quite a few clans shuffling around on the Leader Board.

• Black Sun received a forfeit win over DS, knocking them from the top ten. One report stated that DS "is in dire straits".

• NAM played their first match in a month and lost to TSUA. They were then immediately challenged by Black Sun but NAM declined the challenge, giving Black Sun a free ride to #4. Not content to rest on their laurels Black Sun quickly setup a match with TSUA which will be played early next week.

• RTL made their way back into the top ten by defeating Talking Goats in three rounds. They followed that up by challenging NAM. NAM has yet to reply, hopefully they won't decline the offer.

• CE extended their unbeaten streak in the OGL to eleven wins after battling it out with US. US received their first loss in the OGL, and with all the movement centering around NAM, US dropped two slots to #6.

Daily Tip Don't accept a new recruit into your clan too quickly, unless you already know their personality and attitude. Playing skill is only one aspect of clan life and if you bring in a new member who doesn't fit in with the rest of the crew you're only inviting disaster. Take the time to get to know a recruit. Watch how they handle various situations and decide truthfully if they would make a strong addition to your online team or if they will only cause strife or division.

July 7th, 1999

Tonight's OGL Action It's a pretty big night in the OGL. CE will battle it out with U Suck to try and extend their unbeaten streak. US has what it takes to become #1, and they've spent the week recruiting and practicing, so it will be interesting to see how things turn out. NAM will also come out of retirement (or so it seems) to play TSUA. TSUA is currently on a three game winning streak while NAM has been out of action for a month.

Brooming it Hate Inc managed to sweep Black Sun in their two matches last week. After a small slump, Hate Inc is back in top form. They've also put up a nice new flash intro on their site.

Daily Tip As a soldier on 2forts, falling in the water outside can be a real pain, slowing you down and making you frustrated. For those of you who hate the underwater swim you can rocket jump out of the water instead. Swim to one of the corners of the main pool area, with your rocket launcher aimed down and at the wall beside you swim up quickly and shoot just as you exit the water. The blast will pop you up just over the lip of the pool and onto dry ground.

July 6th, 1999

OGL TFC Open? Quite a few people have asked what the TFC Open is on the OGL site. When it comes to the tough questions you have to go straight to the top. Here's what we forced out of Shaggy, the OGL admin: "The TFC Open (ladder version 6.0) is going to eventually replace the current TFC ladder (ladder version 5.x). As I've stated in both the forum and mass team emails, all teams have 1 week to register their team on the new ladder (I've also stopped adding new clans to the old ladder). At the end of the 1 week period (next tuesday) the old ladder will shut down for up to 5 hours giving me enough time to manually rank every clan in their respected positions, update their record and fix all the challenges etc. The only downpart to this whole process is the match history will be wiped clean and a new one will start (though the records will stay the same). From the responses I've recieved it didnt seem like the match history was a huge deal. The ladder 6.0 is tied into the whole log-in process that the OGL now enforces. There are no more "team passwords", only team captains who the ladder recognizes by their logging in." The staff here at TFCNN will be a bit saddened by the disappearance of the clan histories since we've enjoyed using them in comparing matchups, but we'll get over it. Onward OGL!

No relation to Joe Camel Joe Cool is starting a new TFC tournament for your playing pleasure. Here's his introduction: "hi i just opened my new tfc tournament page. Clans are signing up right now. When the matches start i am telling them to submit the results to your page. i was wondering if u could add my tournament to the list of match types. my tournament is called Total OutBreak , the address is http://gravediggers.net/tournament/." Any match results from this tournament will certainly be posted on TFCNN. Heck, we post anything.

IGL Action DownLoad updated the IGL site with the newest standings and next week's schedule. CE will be defending their new division title against cM. cM's only loss in TFC play was against CE earlier in the IGL season on Canalzone. Perhaps Darkness will provide cM the edge they need to knock off the champs. KiN and Insurrection will be duking it out for a chance at the division title the following week. KiN has yet to be defeated in TFC play. They are 9-0 in the STA and 3-0 in the IGL.

OGL Fun Week Almost all of the top ten clans in the OGL are busy this week so expect some rearranging. We'll go into more detail as things develop.

Daily Tip If your clan participates in 8 vs. 8 matches you need to have quite a bit more than 8 members on your roster. In its short history thus far, TFC has been plagued by undermanned clans coming to matches without enough players. The simple fact is, most clan players can't make it to every match or clan practice, therefore it is essential to pad the roster with alternates so that your clan doesn't find itself at a big disadvantage at gametime.

July 5th, 1999

Rumor Mill Word on the street says that DownLoad, the IGL admin, is almost ready to post the new IGL schedule for next week, he's just waiting on a couple clans to email him back. Hooray!

OGL Shakedown If you're in the OGL be sure to check the OGL messageboard for an important announcement by Shaggy about the new ladder going into effect soon.

Daily Tip Generally speaking, don't publish scrimmage results on your homepage. This is usually considered bad sportsmanship. Scrimmages results shouldn't be taken too seriously. Teams experiment and try out new players and strategies which may never see the light of day during a real match. By publishing scrimmage results you put more pressure on your team to win rather than to be creative and experimental. It also may leave a bad taste in your opponent's mouth if you put up scores or information about how they played in a scrimmage.

July 3rd, 1999

Not starting a trend Clan Blacksun sent in a very reasonable request which raises a serious issue here at TFCNN. More on that after the message from Blacksun: "Clan Blacksun (http://blacksun.vortexq.com) is looking for someone with crazy amounts of bandwidth to host a server for them. We play on average of 3 match's a week and need a dedicated server that will support up to 16 players. If you can help and are interested in joining a clan that plays for the fun of the game, contact Ben Dover([email protected]) or Mr. Dopey([email protected])."

Help Wanted Requests like the one above make a lot of sense for TFCNN to handle but we know from painful experience that once messages like the one above ("we need a server", "we're recruiting", "we're holding a try out", etc.) are encouraged they come in like a flood. So, to get to the point, we here at TFCNN are looking for someone with an amazing amount of patience, and quite a bit of cut/paste experience, to do nothing but slap this sort of news item into html format and present it to the public. Whomever this potential staff member may be, they must have time to do updates every day without fail. If you even think you'll be gone for even a tiny bit of any week don't even think of taking the job. Said person will also be on an amazingly short leash, liable to be fired at the drop of a hat. What a stressful job! Anyway, if you enjoy being a total grunt who gets no glory (and you think I'm joking here) then this could be the position for you. By the way, messages like the one above will no longer be posted in this section. I did the one above just for example's sake (but if you can help out Black Sun that'd sure be nice....).

Troubled waters [DFA]Media shed some light on the precarious position of his clan at the moment: "Recently Death From Above was slated for a match with the first infantry division. We would like to apologize to the 1st Infantry for a no show on the match. This is not because we don't take them, ogl, or tfc seriously but because DFA is having major internal problems and will either have to reconstruct, divide, or simply go our seperate ways. I know it's sad, or maybe not so sad for most of the tfc community as tfc is new and DFA never had the chance to earn the reputation it deserved. None the less we will see in about a day or so whether or not DFA will make a comeback or die entirely. The hand of fate points more generously towards a complete breakup of our clan. Each and every one of our players is chalk full of skill and spirit and will be a great addition to whichever clan has the good fortune of picking them up. A few of us may revert back to an old deathmatch clan Division, so watch out for the Divi's in weeks to come. As for the rest of us, we simply dont know yet. Thanks to all the clans I've faced uned the [DFA] tag and may there be good fortune to all DFA members." Thanks for the info, Media, we hope this all works out for the best.

Using his one phone call War|ock, IGL administrator, missing person, managed to email TFCNN from the penitentiary or somewhere (just so you're clear...that's a joke). Here's his story: "yup, its me. sorry about everything thats going on right now, its really hard on my part, as you all should understand. The damn city is pressing charges of a Domestic Violence on me, that me and my family can do nothing about. HOPEFULLY, I don't have to goto jail. I have sentencing on July 23. Your prayers would be very appreciated. As of right now, all this crap, plus mandatory overtime at my job has me really busy. I really only have time to play on sunday right now, but if I get the time to update... I sure as hell will. Thx for everyones support! Sincerely, [CdG]War|ocK-V-" Thanks for the heads up War|ock, we hope you can get back into the swing of things soon.

Reading material Plaguebearer has started an online TF magazine site called Maggot. It publishes reader submissions about the TF/TFC world. Right now there's an article proclaiming TFC to be better than TF. For those of you who enjoy arguing that point it could be a worthwhile read.

Worries over Warlock Spoonicus isn't a happy camper. Here's his dillema: "Any of you guys know where Warlock disappeared to? He came in that one day to say he wasn't in Jail, then I havn't heard from him since. The IGL board hasn't been updated for a week now, what is going on? Thanks." We here at TFCNN aren't too happy about his disappearance either. It's tough to cover the IGL when there's no schedule up. Perhaps a faithful reader in the know can pass us word of what's going on.

Daily Tip If at all humanly possible get your team using voice communications (such as Roger Wilco or BattleCom). Good communication is absolutely essential in competitive matches and if your team fails there they will not win.

July 2nd, 1999

One down, one to go The first Hate Inc/Black Sun match is under the belt with Hate Inc coming out on top. The second round of their double header is a Canalzone rumble Monday night. Hate doesn't have a great record on Canalzone, but they definitely have the psychological edge going into the matchup.

We love everybody equally We received a couple complaints about our ZB remarks from two days back. Some readers thought it made ZB look like "chumps". That certainly wasn't the intent of the writeup and hopefully that's clear after rereading what was written. TFCNN isn't here to insult anyone and that is never our intention.

Daily Tip Proper grenade priming is an art that can make a good player great. Unfortunately, the default grenade bindings make you hold down your grenade key to prime it and release the button to throw. This is an inefficient method which can tie up a much needed finger. Give the following aliases a try. Press the button once to prime your grenade and press it again to throw. (Replace the X and Y with the keys of your choice.)

alias prime1 "primeone ; bind Y tg1"
alias tg1 "throwgren ; bind Y prime1"
alias prime2 "primetwo ; bind X tg2"
alias tg2 "throwgren ; bind X prime2"
bind Y prime1;
bind X prime2;

July 1st, 1999

Simple twist of fate Black Sun and Hate Inc are in for quite a week. They're scheduled to face off later this week in the OGL in a really important matchup, then they follow that up with an STA showdown Monday night on Canalzone. These two clans have never battled each other before, but after Black Sun's victory over U Suck on Monday, this looks to be a pretty even matchup.

OGL Rule Resolution After quite a bit of confusion last week, a new "no tie" rule has gone into effect in the OGL. In order to win a match a clan must win two rounds of play. Any tie games are thrown out. The rule is good in that it promotes offensive play, but it also could lead to some very long nights with clans having to play three, four, or even more rounds to complete a match. Most likely clans will be forced to postpone extra rounds which could lead to a slight slowdown on the ladder.

Daily Tip Scrimmage against clans that are as good as yours or better. You want to battle a team that can show you your weak points so that you can make adjustments. If you play a clan that you can beat easily with any offensive/defensive scheme then you're not going to learn anything and the scrimmage won't be of much value.

June 30th, 1999

New TFC Tournament [THD]Nemo sent word of a new TFC tournament, placing himself eternally at our disposal. "I could really use help in getting the word out about a new tourney for TFC. If you could post the link below, I would be eternally grateful! http://www.clannexus.com/topten/topten.htm Thanks!"

OGL Strategic Picks Seeing that the #5 Agression Rangers were without a date the Zodiac Braves worked up enough courage to ask them out. This will be ZB's first tough challenge. AR has lost three out of their last four and will definitely come to the match with something to prove.

OGL Leader Board rumblings Tuesday was quite a night on the OGL Leader Board. First, Death Squad decided against matching with the Zodiac Braves. As a result, ZB got a free ride onto the Leader Board. It's been a long road for ZB. They started in the OGL on rung #65. Eight wins later and they're in the top ten. Their next opponent will be #9 Team Fusion.

Despite all the hubbub about U Suck and their recent troubles they managed to knock off #4 Agression Rangers tonight and then boldly challenged #1 Clan Erinyes. That matchup (which will most likely take place early next week) promises to be a doozy.

June 29th, 1999

Call Johnny Cochran Warlock's legal problems seem to have been put on hold. Here's the word received from Spoonicus, "Warlock is back... he isn't in Jail! He showed up in our clan's channel (#cM) at about 3:00 AM to say he has been givin' a court date near the end of July somewhere. He stated clearly that he isn't guilty, and we believe him. The city he lives in has pressed charges on him for [go ask Warlock]. He is praying for probation because he has no way of proving his innocence at the moment. Looks like he got screwed over. So look forward to the IGL Site to be updated more often now, I guess. Still some confusion as to what is going on, but really, it is none of my business."

Time passes...heads cool Good news in TFC land, U Suck is not disbanding. [US]Harrsk posted the following on their homepage after a nice night of sleep, "OK. Clan U Suck is having an attendance problem. We have put ourselves on hold in the STA, IGL and OGL leagues. We will go active once we field some more players. This means that U SUCK is now recruiting experienced LPB TF/TFCers. If you would like to try out, mail me at [email protected]." These are certainly glad tidings and TFCNN wishes US well.

OGL climbing #7 Things Stuck Up Anus defended their position yesterday against The Killing Concept then decided to challenge #3 Nam Marines. NAM hasn't played a match in over three weeks. A look at their homepage shows that something mysterious is brewing behind the scenes. Is that a good or a bad thing?

The undefeated Zodiac Braves have finally arrived within striking distance of the Leader Board. They've challenged #9 Death Squad. A betting man would have to wager that ZB will make it into the top ten after this match. Perhaps they'll be the ones to finally go on to challenge #1 Clan Erinyes who has sat unchallenged for almost two full weeks.

One more clan to watch out for on the OGL Ladder is #20 clan Maylstryx. Fresh off their win over US in the IGL they've recently challenged the 0-4 Killing Concept. A win will put them at rung #12 with a 4-0 record, poised to burst onto the OGL top ten scene.

U Suck gone? After their third consecutive loss and poor player turnouts [US]Harrsk posted a "Goodbye TFC from US" note on their homepage. Word spread quickly and the news was greeted with sadness by most of the clans that knew US. But is US really done? A look at their irc channel on gamesnet shows that they are now recruiting, and [US]Lex, when asked if US was finished, replied, "Not if I have anything to say about it." So don't count out U Suck just yet. And we here at TFCNN will keep you up to date on the latest happenings in the story.

June 28th, 1999

Coronation of the Champs The IGL TFC Division champion was crowned last night after a bigtime showdown between CE and ][ on Darkness. CE came out on top and took the trophy thanks to some strong defense and a nice score on their home server. SupeRBeast from ][nsurrection wrote a top notch piece about the match which you can read here at TFCNN on the TFC results page. Noble writeups like that should be read and appreciated by all. Well done!

Upset Alley Certainly the biggest surprise result from last night's matches was clan Maylstryx's win over U Suck. Ignoring high pings and low expectations cM came through big and pulled off the upset. [cM]Severed_Red succinctly summed up his feelings about the match, "It's just nice to get a win for the hpbs :)"

Nothing on TV? Don't let Monday get you down, STA action is on tap for tonight! Lots of fun 2forts matches are scheduled for this evening, including newcomers Gods of Hate who take on Digital Resurrection. Scores will be posted here at TFCNN as they are received tonight.

Rumor mill [cM]Severed_Red passed on news that Warlock (the IGL official) is caught up in the judicial system at the moment. I'm not sure how that will effect the timely updating of the IGL homepage. Here's a pleasant quote Sev passed along from Warlock: "If I'm not back by tomorrow, I'm in jail."

June 26th, 1999

Stirring the pot. For those of you who revel in taunting and smack talk among clans you'll be thrilled to know that Gods of Hate has reopened their homepage for public consumption. If that isn't enough there's always the old standby.

OGL Action! Finally, after far too long, there is some significant action on the OGL Ladder. First off, #5 Black Sun challenged #2 Hate Inc. to some killing fun. These two clans have never faced off on the battlefield before so it should promise to be a first rate showdown.

If that first bit wasn't enough to kindle your fire you'll be happy to hear that #13 U Suck, fresh off their win over DFA, has challenged #4 Agression Rangers. Despite their relative positions, a betting man would have to give the edge to US in this confrontation, though AR is certainly no pushover. Keep your eyes on this match. If US wins they most certainly won't be satisfied stagnating at #4.

Top 15 TFC Clans Ladder The TF Times unveiled their TFC clan ranking system today. It's a replacement ladder system which you may or may not put much stock into, depending on your personal persuasion. However, it just might be the little extra push needed to get TFCNN's Top 10 TFC Clans list together...we'll see. Currently the top three clans on the TF Times ladder are CE, KiN, and Hate. Go find out how your favorite clan stacks up.

June 24th, 1999

League Rundown:

• OGL: The Leader Board seems to be stalling somewhat. Currently the top five clans are unchallenged and it appears that most of them are going to stay that way for awhile. Where in the world did NAM disappear to? Until some fresh blood moves up towards the top things could remain stagnant. Fortunately there are some strong teams quickly moving within striking distance, including US, DFA, 100k.d.l, and ZB.

• IGL: This is definitely the most exciting league at the moment due to the race for the division championship. This Sunday CE will take on ][nsurrection on Darkness to determine the title holder. Both teams are undefeated in TFC and unwilling to lose now.

• STA: Nothing like a little smack talk to get the juices flowing. Gods of Hate has been insulting Hate Inc relentlessly since their STA match last Monday. This is definitely stirring the pot. The eventual rematch will be the talk of the town for sure. In the meantime KiN has been busy beating everyone in sight. They have yet to lose a TFC match.

Matches to Watch:

• Gods of Hate vs. Digital Resurrection, STA Monday, 2forts:
  If GoH can't get by DiRe on 2forts then all their big talking will blow up in their face. A lot of clans will be keeping a close eye on the scores of this match.

• ][nsurrection vs. Clan Erinyes, IGL Sunday, Darkness:
  ][ is moving out of obscurity and into the limelight, about to meet their biggest challenge yet. A win over CE would cause quite a sensation but not many people expect that to happen. ][ is a heavy underdog but they just might have what it takes.

• Hate Inc vs. Kindred, IGL Sunday, Darkness:
  There is some bad blood between KiN and Hate, especially after their recent STA match. KiN came out on top in that battle but not without losing Hate's respect. In map experience a slight edge goes to KiN. Hate will also have to get the rules straight about capping on the balcony being legal (it is). Anyway, expect a slugfest.

• Dice vs. 100k Devil Legion, OGL Mon/Tues, CZ2 and 2forts:
  100k.d.l is on a roll and looking to get on the OGL Leader Board. Dice is currently #9 on the ladder and still undefeated. Both of these clans are still fairly unknown but looking to get some attention.