AML Season 9 Award Winners

Well after thinking it over and then thinking it over again. These are the AML Season 9 award winners in my mind. You may not agree with all of my choices, but I feel that a strong argument can be made for each one.

This season's decisions were tough. Unlike last season which had several standout players who played at a level above their peers, this season doesn't have that. There is an increased sense of parity if you will. I try to give the player of the season award to a playmaker but this season with the increased parity and increased sense of teamwork that just wasn't possible.

It is for all these reasons and more that I chose Savage as the AML Season 9 Player of the Season. As I wrote in an earlier article concerning Tweaked, Savage is perhaps the most dominating finisher in AML history. Some will argue that he gets a majority of his kills at the end of the game and that he just steals kills from others. But I ask you this: how come you couldn't steal that many kills? How come you didn't get all those kills at the end of the game if it's really that easy? How come you have double digit deaths and Savage can count the deaths of 13 games on both hands? A major part of being able to change the outcome of a game is being in the game for the full time and Savage is a master of that. Is he the perfect player? Certainly not. But he certainly was the most influential player in AML this season.

AML Season 9 Captain of the Season this season was a fairly simple choice. Who would have thought his squad would be where it is at the beginning of the season? I know that I voted them to be ranked around 18-20 at the beginning of the season but they came out of the gates with a vengeance. Even with FEAR and EAR Epik's talent is hardly overwhelming and yet they've put together a better than solid season under the leadership of Passplay. Look for them to give the Foodons a run for their money this Sunday.

Many players have improved this season making the choice of Most Improved Player a difficult one. Look at Savage who morphed from dueler to league regulator. Or Scythe who transformed from Heaven scrub to Heaven swingman. Or what about Sabretooth who certainly came a long way this season. He is still the target for every opposing squad but now doesn't choke, gets kills, and runs aw for Liquid Inc...

None of those players improved like bushes though. The AML Season 9 Most Improved Player went from being a decent pilot last season to carrying his mercurial squad into the playoffs this one.

The AML Season 9 Most Improved Squad award race was the closest this season. Epik gave us a great season of solid play when they weren't expected to do much of anything. Liquid Inc came out strong at the beginning and unlike last season has stayed strong. They now look like they have a shot at the title. Both of those squads could easily have won this award, but when I really thought about it they didn't deserve it as much as the squad that did win it.

They were nothing but an afterthought last season; a squad that lucked out because of schedule and snuck into the playoffs. This season though they're for real. AML Season 9 Most Improved Squad Wretcheds were the team to beat the first half of the season. People will argue that they didn't play anyone. But I didn't see anyone else beat #1 seeded Tweaked, did you? They did go into a tailspin at the end of the season losing multiple games straight. They're not a title contender. But they are damn good and certainly a damn sight better than they were last season. Look for a good game this Sunday when they meet BlackNike in what could only be a memorable match up.

The AML Season 9 Best New Squad award is going to be split. There are two squads that simply deserved it and I couldn't overlook either one no matter how hard I tried. 7rominence survived, competed, and showed for every single game through some of the worst internal strife imagineable. And they'll be back next season probably improved. Thats dedication. Thats what AML needs more of.

Hit-N-Run is the other winner of this award this season based on one fact. They showed for EVERY game this season even though they didn't have a prayer. I hope they're back next season.

The AML Season 9 Most Underrated Player is so underrated no one nominated him. He plays for a squad that didn't make the playoffs and will probably disband next season. If you've played against him in a prac or a match you know he isn't to be taken lightly. This kid can play.

That being said, the AML Season 9 Most Underrated Player award goes to BUNNER(d i g i) of BUNNER. If you don't believe me, play against him in a prac sometime.

It's now 3:15AM and I am tired.. gotta wake up early tomorrow morning to help jump my friend's car so he can take it down to the shop. The AML Season 9 Most Underrated Squad has to be Afterglow. I never hear them mentioned in any discussions about the top squads in AML. Sophist and Lord Lincke provide veteran leadership and are complemented by a strong supporting cast. Also what part of 10-3 is ambiguous?

That concludes the AML Season 9 End of the Season awards. See you next season :)

morphine

Pro Semi Final - Outlook

Confusion, Controversy and Tough decisions was the order of the day in the Quarter Finals.

With the Qtr Finals safely out of the way, after some good match-ups and some controversy along the way, it is the turn of the victorious teams (in whatever shape they take) to progress and stake there claim to be Pro League Champions

B.I.A vs FuN!

BIA strolled into the next round defeating BD 12-3 (Sika 5-2) in under 30 minutes. Nelson dying 3 times in 10 minutes no small factor in this. Again Sika with his 4th MVP and now 2 in a row is performing with the teams best interests in mind. tak has adjusted well to a new team in a new league performing consistently and providing the necessary back up for Sika

FuN! triumphed in the expected close encounter against WM. Masterlord subbing in and performing good until 2 deaths in 2 minutes crippled WM. Kyll sems to have found a decent vein of form now that playoffs have arrived with back2back MVP's (combined 9-2). ZdeathX only dies to recharge his rockets i hear, An interesting tactic maybe 1 that will catch on.

BIA 8 FuN! 5

Presence vs Assassins

How are Presence here you ask. Good question, But they are and undoubtedly they are one of the more competent teams left. Underlord and Three are the main stays of this team backed up by 0nether life and High Gain. Fortuitous to be here, Possibly? Will it affect them, Probably not!

Assassins defeated Orategama 12-0 in what turned out to be more of a reffed prac than an playoff matchup. Dusty Inno and aiti sharing the MVP 3-0, These 2 teams matched up 3 weeks ago with Assassins taking the spoils 8-5 (Mop 3-0)

Assassins 6 Presence 4

Finalizing Staff List

Interested in writing on this site. Especially you Professional League monkeys and anyone that wants to do special projects/interviews. Read on or if you just want to read who our current staff is read on as well.

Trying to get the Premier Times Staff finalized. I'm away visiting my dieing grandmother so its kinda iffy on when I'll be back in game (I'm thinking Monday ~ Wednesday), but it all really depends on when she goes. We're a pretty fun fucked up family, so its just a bunch of us here eating, drinking, throwing shoes, and spending time with ole grams before she's out for the big one.

Just to paint a prettier picture she's bed ridden and told a bunch of us one day she wanted one last fuck, but this cathetar is the damn way.

Well here's our current staff list
Active
morphine - AML Reviewer/Previewer
mindriot - IML/Controversy
Sumi - IML Preview/Review
Cose - cock lover
Doc Holliday - grammar bitch
Devoit & Wasty - Events Coordinators
Ace - Web God

Inactive
airwalkr - Ranter
crumbs - Interviewer
grinder - Interviewer

Position: Interviewer
I'm still looking for someone to help out with interviews as I can't seem to get much out of crumbs or grinder because of real life. Ideally I'd like a weekly person for this. Its not hard to do a weekly interview if you have set questions it takes almost no time and the write up is simple if you have a log editor. You could even limit your interviewing to a single feature such as "This Week's MCP"
Weekly or close to is the key word here.

Position: Pro Correspondent
This is anyone in or that has been involved in pro that would like to use this as a forum to let out. If you want to just post your thoughts from the pro forum onto this as well...well it could work.

Position: Unknown or Guest Columnist.
Have something interesting. Write it up and send it to me. If its worthwhile we can set you up with a one time post or add you to staff. If you aren't an interviewer or doing Pro work this is for you, but I will require a peice of work to jump on as staff.

To contact about this use the following methods:
* Reply as a comment on this post
* Hit me with a private message on the forum (Cashew)
* Catch me in game whenever I'm back.

Pro Playoff Look Out

Pro Playoff Outlook
Unbiased preview of how the top 8 teams in Pro will fare in the Playoffs

B.I.A - 1st seed Losses to Watchmen and Presence in regular season. Show a slight lack of that killer instinct. Further analysis shows that they beat FuN! (9-8 in OT) and Assassins 12-6 and even that was close for the 30 minutes to 6-4. Looking at their roster and who has played the most games shows a worrying lack of an on field leader. Noone has played more than 9 games, and of there back up players only 3 have a + K/D and these have only played 6 games between them. If B.I.A's top 4 show (sika, hook, Zonbie and tak) They could take it home this season, If any of these fail to show BIA may struggle.

BlackDragon 8th Seed - BD have failed to win against any of the top 4 seeds this season. This points to an Easy BIA win.. Also BD are afflicted with the same problems as BIA in that there 1st choice 4 have had all the game time. Only Fusion and Slimster have had game time outside of this 4 and neither have managed stats to be proud of. Of slight concern is that only Slo Motion made it out of regular season with a +K/D record

BIA vs BlackDragon - Blackdragon to keep it close early on, maybe even taking a shock early lead but BIA to increase the pressure and take home a comfortable win 12-7

Presence - 2nd Seed - Sneaked into 2nd spot with wins Over BIA and Secret in the makeup round. Against the other 3 squads in the top 4 they have lost to FuN! (9-8 OT) and Assassins (8-5) whilst beating the aforementioned BIA in a controversial matchup. The best 4 for Pres have all posted impressive regular season stats being led by the #1 pilot in Pro Underlord (21-1). Again the top 4 are impressive but outside of this top 4 a lack of game time for anyone else could be disruptful to Presence's chances.

Tyranny - 7th Seed - Scheduling problems and a lack of activity have hurt Tyranny's chances this season, losses to The Dark and Blackdragon show a lack of interest. A look at the stats for the players highlights this further. Only sixth (22-13) has performed this season getting Rage active again could improve there chances considerably

Presence vs Tyranny - Presence defeated Tyranny 12-2 in regular season, expect a simillar result allthough slightly closer Presence to win 12-4

Assassins - 3rd Seed - Assassins have lost to BIA and FuN! of the other top Pro teams, with a further loss to Orategama (10-5). Game time has been shared out equaly between 6-7 player which bodes well should anyone have lag/playing problems. A strong performance is required of Mop who is looking for his 7th straight Pro championship

Orategama - 6th Seed - Orat have lost to all of the other playoff contenders except for BlackDragon and Assassins. And there season has tailed off in quite dramatic fashion losing 5 out of 7 beating only 2 non playoff teams. This may be a game to far in what has been a fairly mixed season for Orat. Losing Cloud over disciplinary issues seems to have hurt them more than it should have.

Assassins vs Orategama - Assassins will take this comfortably avenging there regular season loss 12-5

FuN! - 4th Seed - FuN! have had a fairly impressive season surprising even themselves. led by Klown in the stats and with losses only to BIA and 2 of the teams not in the playoffs. A strong run looks possible. In depth analysis shows that many have played but not consistently outside of there top 4 nobody has stepped up and this could be a problem. Perhaps the most astute decision of the season is Dioxide benching himself

Watchmen - 5th Seed - WM have with 1 win this season given themselves real hope for the playoffs. Beating BIA (8-7) after leading and then being pegged back must have given them real confidence. There season depends on Masterlord. If he plays well and can hold back the choke factor Watchmen can mop up the left overs.

FuN! vs Watchmen - Watchmen with the " surprise " win 12-6

AML Wild Card Round

Well like a druggie who just came off a bad trip and is now chain smoking to try to feel better... I thought I'd try to get my mind off the Red Sox so here I am writing this piece.

Epik(8-5) v. 7rominence(4-9) -
This should be a blowout and nothing more. Fishi being the tough captain that he is will find at least four players to show for this game but they're in for a beating. My hat goes off to 7rom for surviving like they have and playing tough all season through adversity.

Epik has seen a stunning revival this season. They are now a team that has the depth, talent, and experience to make a good run in the playoffs. If evader doesn't show for the Foodons in the 2 v. 7 game it could be very close.

I expect HV to show and jeer from spec. I do not expect Purple to show.

Line: Epik by 11

Heaven(7-6) v. Warlords(5-8) -
Heaven was left for dead early this season but have clung to life with a tenacity that is nothing short of miraculous. Players who comprised Heaven's bench last season have banded together captainless and somehow put Heaven here on the cusp of the playoffs. Heaven is a good bit more talented than Warlords but barely pulled off the win in their previous meeting.

Warlords have come a long way this season as well. They looked sloppy and bound for another disappointing season early but have somehow righted the ship. Over the last month and some Warlords have shown steady improvement every week especially in teamwork. They beat a strong Epik squad in week 11 in what was one of the most entertaining games in recent memory.

These two teams met in week 10 and Warlords gave it away.

Here's saying they won't make the same mistake again.

Line: Warlords by 2

Thalion(7-6) v. Alcoholism(4-9) -
The 7 seed is exactly where Thalion should be. They are the very picture of consistency as they lose to teams above them and beat teams below them. Thalion comes out strong in the start and then seems to fade as the game goes on. This could be a sign that they don't have much of a bench.

What a season Alcoholism has gone through. They began the season with high hopes and a new roster of hungry talented players... then disaster struck and they've been trying to pick up the pieces since. Meditation has "retired" but is still there in spirit(when he's not actually there anyway). The truth is Grinder is an aggressive captain who will do whatever he can to win this game. Alcoholism still has talent; the only player they lost from earlier in the season from when they defeated Thalion 12-7 is DK.

So is it possible? Sure it's possible. Alcos have the talent and the will to do it.

Alcos need to play the best game of their lives to prevent Meditation from retiring.

Here's saying they do.

Line:Alcoholism by 1

-BlitZed-(6-7) v. Secret(5-8) -
I'm not going to predict this game, but instead just write some thoughts. The first meeting was closer than the score indicates. The game could have gone either way. Secret is an old squad with veteran players and I expect them to make adjustments this weekend. I don't expect them to be fazed by anything -BlitZed- may do. They've faced tough competition before and have gained the reputation for being a hard out for any squad on any level.

-BlitZed- has been through a lot this season. I honestly don't know who or how many will show for this game given the inactivity that we've had all season. I expect we'll give it our best whoever shows though.

GL Secret, this should be a good one.

Life Love and Pro League Part 3

The Final chapter of the home town boy who made good

Day 23. After 3 people telling me its a good idea decide that Pro needs to be reshuffled and revamped. Set up Polls in Public to capture the maximum amount of people (If it goes wrong i can just blame the players)

Day 25. Play my 1st game since armageddon. After ripping the heart out of 0netherNewbie to take my Pro league record to 3-1. I decide that i should let the other team win since I have to be nice.. I dont want to upset anyone, Highlight of the day was hitting Underlord with a couple of bullets and a full bomb then rocketing in for the kill only to miss by a mile. Ho Hum you can take the player out of Aml but you cant take Aml out of the player :)

Day 26. Events day. I can finnally show off my skills. I lead the race by 10 seconds easy but then Wasty messages me >Dont win remember you have to be nice. Damn even now im scuppered. Accidentally on purpose hit warp taking me back to the beginning trail in last 4 minutes 24 seconds behind. Slimster who won looks like he is having a fit he is laughing so much.

Day 27. Decide that if im going to impress anyone i need to show my mettle. After taking several ideas from other people. I reword them and post to the staff forum whilst waiting for the acclaim to pour in, decide that being Pro sysop isnt really that hard

Day 28. Return to Staff forum and to my dismay find that ihave ben ridiculed by everyone, It seems that the Pro players arent as good as I thought damn I will have to think of some ideas by myself. Wtf is going on nobody told me i would have to decide on anything let alone THINK. Take a couple of aspirin even the thought of thinking is giving me a migraine.

Cast in Order of Appearance

P.Sharman
Banned Player
Life Love the COCK
0NetherNewbie
Underlord
Wasty
Slimster

A special thanks goes out to anyone i missed, Pro would be a better place without you all
Love
cose

Life Love and Pro league

The continuing diaries of an incredible rise to fame continue inside

Day 12. The banned player saga draws on. Im getting several mails from various players. I respond to one telling them that allthough i have hit CA over the head with a bat he still insists that the ban will remain

Day 14. It seems i am at last hated by some. The banned payer has posted some very nasty things about me even questioning my birth rights. Im told by other staff to expect more of the same but in 2 weeks everyone will have forgotten about it. (im glad of the exposure people are talking about me on the Professional message board , how cool is that)

Day 15. Realise that the Playoff format was never chosen, Consider ending the season early to avoid any confrontation, The last thing i need now is to be hated even more. Whilst outside, wondering how to tell the league season will be ending this weekend get hit by lightining come up with an amazing idea "Why dont I let the Captains Decide"

Day 17. I think im on to something here there are rumours that im "liked" coming through from the players. I pass this off as an early April fools joke, Those sneaky pro players wont get me that easily

Day 18. Game day, I think it only reasonable to ref a Pro league game and show my face in public, game passes off without incident or anyone spamming me with the exception of "can i go in now" and "fucking wake up i lagged out i want back in" Game ends with the score 9-0 and no players in from 1 team I still cant figure out what his problem was couldnt he tell i was jerking off to those porn mails

Day 20. Again the banned player posts this time questioning my sexuality, Im sure im an actively gay member of the community (perhaps i better keep this quiet though dont want to give him something to laugh at)

Day 21 Announce playoff format after ignoring all the votes (At least they think they had something to do with the decision and yet i get all the plaudits, I'll show them how sneaky i can be)

Day 22 Everytime Life posts on the Pro forum he gets responded with Love the Cock, Consider messaging him asking him if he wants to cyber its obvious he shares the same passions as myself. Maybe i could find a Real friend.

Concluding Tomorrow the unmissable 3rd part in the story a Pro league sysop

It Takes One Man, The Fall of BoP

It takes one man to make a difference.

This man, is required to uplift his squadmates. He is required to manage his team efficiently and with respect for individual talent. He is required to prepare his team for tough matches. Fairness, honor, and game strategy should be his only concerns.

It is such a man, that can make all the difference.

Sumi, the Captain of the now plundering Birds of Prey (BoP), has not.

The Birds of Prey are a very talented and hungry squad. Designator leads BoP as the best active player and future IML League star*. Paired with Warpt; the duo is able to capture many kills and control the pace of any match. Supporting the starring cast are Schlong and Lurp. Heavily under-rated, Schlong & Lurp provide distance lobbing and lethal EMP strikes which allow BoP to be a competitive force.

*Designator is also the assistant captain and scouting agent for BoP. His duty is to scout squad mates in order to help Sumi devise a starting line up. He has failed tremendously and I would rather be scouted by a chicken than by Desig "My ego is growing like my tanking ability" nator.

The BoP starters: Designator, Warpt, Schlong, and Lurp

Captain: Sumi
Assistant Captain: Designator

Where is the strategy?

'The scheduling board of course.'

Sumi is perhaps the most arrogant, ignorant, and inexperienced SubSpace captain in league history. His tactics include: deception, trickery, and lying. Nothing more.

I took the time to read some of the scheduling posts Sumi was involved in. I was surprised when I learned that many of my now former squadies play Powerball. I entered Subspace, and asked Sumi if we had any active players on Powerball rosters and his response, “fuck them, I am going to play dirty” made it abundantly clear that we did not.

Needless to say, I was ashamed.

I began debating with Sumi and suggested that we meet Money at a reasonable time to earn our win, and our respect. My efforts were to no avail. I found myself, as usual, speaking on behalf of myself as no other BoP member supported me. So, like any good pilot should do, I remained loyal to my bench and congratulated Sumi on a job well done. If you play for Sumi in the future, remember that you have to be his pet (Designator) in order to earn playing time. Disagree with Sumi and forget about playing. My apologies to Money on behalf of myself as I was not able to convince Sumi that he had a pair of kahonies.

This is the extent of Sumi’s skill as an IML League captain.

The plot gets thicker….

Match time, is an exciting time for any squad. Heartbeats are elevated and stomachs are turned. Many fine squads are practicing their starters and their subs. BoP, however, is not. Sumi is very stubborn and will not listen to ideas or suggestions that could benefit the squad and it’s members. Key decisions are made on “gut feelings” with little or no consideration to strategy. I am sorry, I was inaccurate. There is a piece of strategy devised by Sumi that I forgot to mention:

Sumi> “I am starting Schlong because he lags and will be able to tank a lot of their bombs”.

When met with a loss, Sumi's initial response is to blame 1 person on the squad. There is no discussion of strategy, there is no encouraging debate or discussion that would allow individuals to improve their skills and be ready for next time.

The list of blamed BoP pilots is long. However, "Sumi" is not on that list.

I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to entice Sumi into discussing strategy but was only met with rants and raves about his achievements on the Scheduling board.

Sumi does not understand the value of substitution and his loss to Money, is a perfect example of why this squad will continue to fail. Sumi does not use subs. BoP played an impressive first half taking a huge lead over Money and as time progressed, BoP starters began to tire, lose reps, and die.

Where are the subs?

'The scheduling board of course.'

I expressed my concerns and was ignored. Money began to pick up momentum taking full control of the game. I lost my temper and repeatedly asked Sumi to sub player X, as he was not attacking. Sub player Y because he has no reps. Sub player Z so that we can have a rep and player advantage.

My requests were met with "HE DID NOT DIE YET", in capitals.

I will now take the time, to ask any good IML captain:

"What is wrong with this picture?"

A) Money is sitting in the hole, no players to sub, no reps, and facing a huge BoP lead.

B) BoP starters have done their job. They are tired, rep-less, and facing death. BoP subs are eagerly waiting to play, hungry, confident, and determined to beat Money.

Do they get the opportunity?
NO.

As the match progressed, Money came back from a monumental deficit and tied leaving many BoP starters with 2 deaths. By this time, BoP was fast on their heels as Money was swooping in one by one taking advantage of the now tired, and defeated BoP starters.

A tough loss could have been avoided quite easily if Sumi took time out from the scheduling board and learned the importance of using Subs.

Of course, Sumi blamed me for the loss (Ghost Dog) as I subbed in with 1 min remaining to the no specials sub mark. I was very angry, not thinking clearly, and yes, I choked. I will admit it. How could I not? I spent the entire match pulling out my hair watching a huge BoP advantage disappear. To add insult to injury, my concerns were answered with. "HE DID NOT DIE YET". How am I to take the blame for the loss that could have so easily been avoided by good strategy from a good captain? That is the reason why I left BoP immediately after the loss. BoP does not have a good captain. BoP does not have a good assistant captain. BoP, only has angry players who have privately discussed their departure plans.

BoP Facts:

- Konhero has not played one game.
- Bad Logo has only played a few.
- Designator never subs, and always starts. When asked to sub, his response is "no".
- Bad Logo, Don Cherry, and Myself (Ghost Dog) have voluntarily subbed out to give other members of BoP an opportunity and to build a rep and player advantage.

Was our example followed?
No.
Why?

'The scheduling board of course.'

Life, Love and Pro league !

After 1 month into my position as the head of Professional League and here is a little taster of what has happened during my turbulent time as Pro Sysop!

Day 1. Find out im Pro Sysop from Covert Agent (He had left me a ?message 1 week earlier completly forgot about it)

Day 2. Make it publicly known that i am the new Pro Sysop, (No hate mail 2 hours later) This surely is a good sign. Send out my 1st Captains mail this will surely force the caps into action.

Day 3 Wake up to find 9 new mails in my Inbox 6 Porn mails (not sure i was getting those before I was Pro sysop but am glad of the light relief) 2 are good wishes (wtf is this i was told i would be slaughtered for being a newbie in charge of Pro league). 1 Last mail to check its from Patrick Sherman (Sounds promising) Not a hate mail but he wants me to get him unbanned form the Scheduling forum. Go back to the porn mails disappointed (is there this much apathy in pro league??)

Day 4 Reply to P.Sherman stating that even though i have attempted to solve his problems i have had no luck. Receive reply back from him about 2 hours later telling me im a chink and that he doesnt want to hear from me. Send a Mail back telling him i wont be sending him a Xmas card (I think i made a friend)

Day 7 Spend 60 minutes talking to an unamed Banned Pro player trying to get him to right his wrongs. Realise its futile and go bang my head against a brick wall (more fun and i got more sense out of it too)

Days 8-11 Repeat day 7

Story to be concluded tomorrow - Stay tuned for more Stories in the life of a Pro Sysop

Event results

Yesterday's events were a hit. 15 on 15 dodgeball and 8 teams for the 3v3. Winners inside.

Dodgeball really had no winner, it is a team game. I can assure you that mostly freq 0 won :p.

As for the tourney, it was pez, luna, and aiti vs garcon, jae, and nacre in the finals. After 5-6 minutes of exciting 3 on 3, aiti was on his 5th life, therefore out. More time passed, and it didn't quite look like luna's team was ready to give up yet, as they made extreme effort to stay in the game, they got someone from Garc's team to 4 lives. Garcon finally got it together and killed off another opponent, luna. Pez was still in the duel box, running for his life, but an emp bomb from jae slowly made it's way towards the inevitable, as pez was killed. Having no team mates to attach to in the box, the match was over. Garcon, Jae and Nacre had become the champions.

It was a great tourney, the semi's might have been different if some people stopped lagging out and getting back too late. All in all, thanks for playing.

The prize for Garcon, Jae and Nacre, is unlimitted bursts for next week's Pro game.

P.S: Just kidding ):

In the 5pm Events hosted by Wasty+ a 3v3 Tourney a Race event and a Thor Wars event were held.
Omis Captor and (someone else Heaven) Won, The Thor wars were easily won by the Warbirds on 2 occasions
And the Main event the Race Event Hereon known as the Premier Grand Prix, was won by Captor who received a 1k Chaos Pub bounty

I think it is fair to say the 5pm Events were PwNeD by Heaven

Rules, Refs, Bots, & Players Part 3

Not everyone can see it because most don't really see it that often, but there is a conflict in the way things run between the past, present, and future. Status Quo is a very settling place to be in real life and the same is true in Subspace.
This portion will look into what goes on behind the scenes as well as the future.

Section 3: Past vs Present vs Future

Who is Staff?
Well the majority of staff you see are refs. These people for the most part ref for one year or season before moving onto their greener pastures wether it is real life, not reffing, or upper staff. Refs are the pople that you have to deal with usually Sunday unless something major is going wrong. Think of them as the pretty face at the cash register or on the floor. Reffing is the entrance exam for becoming premier staff. By the way you can sign up to ref on this Ref Signup Link and we always need quality applicants for reffing.

Upper Staff consists of all kinds of people. There are League Sysops, Rules Coordinators, Appeals Arbiters, Scheduling Coordinators, Billing Staff, Web Staff, Events Staff, etc. and even a few unlisted fun positions. By the way the full listed staff postions are on the Staff List Page. Upper staff for the most part have some level of seniority. Some have been around since the very beginnings, most do some sort of revolving door allowing others to step up.

Undercurrents in staff
Since the refs are the most active base for the most part in premier. They tend to set the current flow while the upper staff tends to guide it as well as they can by putting trends into policy. The most recent rash of refs that have influxed are new to premier or returning from the olden days of old school ladder-style league. These refs as all refs do focus heavily on the current set of rules. We just happen to be at a time where the forum's and way of running things has increased the power for change to come along as SubSpace is developing. Now the most current themes in the staff revolve around the issues of enforcing bans and policy (which resulted from the chaos move and many players circumventing bans), appropriate rules enforcement (or "what they say is what we need to do"), and moving forward. Call it nazi, call it stupid, its what is happening.

Rules vs Tradition
One problem that you could see earlier is how refs answer certain questions on how to handle the situations. You have older refs versus newer refs it almost seems. Well here's the truth behind it. Most refs are 100% familiar with the rules when they start. After that they are unfamiliar with changes, but eventually learn. If they started last season there are NTS's, 30 minute overtimes, and subbing is just subbing. If you started this season its all gone.

Some other things that you can see with traditionalists is the fact that they may not burn an unegaged player if they lag out a tthe start of the match. This is entirely unsupported in the rules, but its how they've always done it. You can find the traditionalists really fast because they are the ones that get excited when the bots all die and we have to "old school" ref by hand. Its no big deal to them, but some of the refs that have always had bots get a lil scared.

All in all, it can be a major issue if it affects a match. Its definitely no "You say Subspace I say Contiuum" thing, its an issue such that when old school tendencies come up they are now dissuaded. Its hard to move forward when one foot is dragging behind. But this is a continual problem because the newest refs tend to ref the most. Basically because reffing gets boring or tedious to fit into schedules when you don't have the fire of it beinng new.

Bots where will they take reffing to?
Will we ever come to a day where the players can call in a ref bot and press !start and not need a ref? No, probably not. It may become an option if refs can't be found, but I do not see it happening as the standard thing to do. The reason why is the inevitable happens. Think of any game and the many numerous things a player can do. It would be next to impossible to create a bot that can handle any situation at any time. Maybe 95% of situations, but is it reasonable to create a bot to do it all?

Another major problem for bots is a problem for all of us. Lag. When we miss a packet it may be a bullet or a bomb. When a bot misses a packet, well it could be a death or a ship change or a player coming. This requires a human to catch the error and a human to fix it.

Refs will always be needed in that situation. To fix what went wrong so that games can go with as little interuption to the players as possible. Other things bots can't do that refs can are human things. Can a bot really explain or give a rule clarification? Can a bot change an action it took because it did it wrong? Can a bot answer ?help messages? Well the answer to all of this is yes, but it would take considerable programming and could never match a human's ability to handle it.

Bots are valuable addition because they take away tons of ref error, but yes they do make refs lazy. They also help by allowing players to have more control and ultimately giving captains even more control than they ever had. One feature you may see in the future that is programable is the ability to sub your players without going through a ref. This is controversial, but you may see it happen one day.

Reform is it needed?
Reform is always needed. Reform for the most part is needed in certain errors of refs, bots, staff, and players. The biggest areas that seem to be problems with numbers of ref online, staff that fails their job, communication (as is the case with everywhere), and player conduct.

Number of Refs Online
While its rare to not see a game covered. It is increasingly viable to see a game that gets called 10-25 minutes late because of lack of a ref. What is the reform needed? Either requirements on staff that ensure that a staff member must ref "x amount of games per y days" or more active refs.

The major problem with finding good refs is finding good pilots that will ref. They first off must be mature because they get power. They also must know the rules because they enforce them. They also must be trust worthy because they can make or break a match. This means that your average SS idiot is not ref material. Even your most knowledgable idiots will have to do some convincing because well they are an idiot. And yes your conduct and behavior in game will and can determine if staff even looks at your application.

Staff that Fails their Job
Well this doesn't happen often, but it does happen. What happens when a staff member disappears? Well depending on the position absolutely nothing or absolutely everything. Major positions that when the staff member falters its felt include the scheduling coordinators...hard to schedule a match without someone guiding it, events coordinators...hard to have events when they aren't there, ref coordinators...hard to find refs for. Without senior refs nothing gets posted to master rater. The list goes on?

How do we fix it? Well if a staff member fails they simply need to go. Maybe if Spring League hasn't been around for a few seasons we need to get a new spring league sysop. Overall we just need better people for these positions when the current staff falters or leaves, which brings us back full circle to the fact that we need more and better refs.

Communication
Communication is key. We need to have it to know what's going on. Well the only way to improve this is of couse to document and publish whatever we do. Which of course means its longer to do things. Basically this is simple. To improve communication we must communicate. In the back currents where regular players can't see this is rapdily improving.

Player Conduct
Well this is probably the biggest thing we need. Player conduct is currently in a determinal state as it always has been with Subspace. Its hard to attract new players when some random idiot drives them away by calling them any number of everyday Surrey/HV words. Its even harder when players refuse to play by the book and drive players out of the league. Basically the biggest reason for population declines beyond life, is the players themselves. This is a whole problem in itself and it will most likely never be fixed unless God comes down and smites all the dumb asses out there, which pretty much means Subspace will be gone.

Events!

Events are being hosted today again. Wasty is hosting at 5, and I am hosting at 9.

I'll be hosting another test run of dodgeball, with improved settings. And maybe a dueling tourney after. If anyone knows/has come up with any events they would like hosted, be sure to leave wasty or myself a ?message.

The Best Night Ever

Well its only 11pm and I'm drunk as hell. Not much is new except this was the happiest night I can ever remember having. Why is that? Three Words. World Beer Festival

The World Beer Festival is exactlly what it says. A festival of beer from around the world. They had over 100 vendors distrubuting 2 ~ 6 different beers each and the lowest quality to be found was ABusch's Amber Bock which is my favorite drinking beer anyway.

Of the 100 vendors I managed to visit over 80 and missed out only a few I wanted to hit. I of course skipped the big names like Miller, ABusch, Coors, Pabst, Sarnac etc etc. For those who care here go my favorite beers I tried:

Abita Amber - Abita Brewing Company
Allagash Speciale - Allagash Brewing Company
Degroens Dunkles - Baltimore Brewing Company
Post Road Pumpkin Ale - Brooklyn Brewery
Carolina Nut Brown Ale - Carolina Brewing Company
Fischer Amber - Fischer Brewery
Gaelic Ale - Highland Brewing Company
Rebel - Mestansky Pivovar
Shiner Bock - Spoetzl Brewery
Lemon Grass Wheat - Outer Banks Brewing Station
Any Mead - Desi's Dew Meadery www.desidew.com

Overall all I did was with one friend because 4 others sold us out and didn't buy tickets and pulled the "I have to study/work" routine went and had the best time ever. We drank countless amounts of beer, listened and danced to bluegrass music with all kinds of crazy drunk people, ate all kinds of great foods like lamb gyro's, bratwurst, jerk chicken legs, etc etc, and checked out "hot" girls that of course were not that "hot".

We even had a good time waiting on a corener lieing in the grass for 30 minutes while our DD showed up yelling at people. Of course not the general shit you yell at people, but more like "WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!", "SUUUUUUUIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!", "WOOT WOOT".

I barely did anything tonight but drink, but the atmosphere was so much fun with all the "personality" people it was like being a bar with only cool people. No gay ass bouncers harassing you, no rude bartenders angry to be there or mad at a low tip, no hot ass girls that are too stuck up to talk to anyone but people that reek of $, no dumb ass jocks. It was all liberals. Beer Drinkers. The craziest of the crazy and most importantly the funnest of the fun. I didn't see out out of the 2000+ people there one fight, one yelling match, and even one dirty glare.

It was all about fun and fun was had. From the crazy rednecks and me dancing to blue grass to the UNC & Duke & NCSU all getting along in the same place, to the real beer aged beer drinkers amongst a younger based crowd everyone got along. It wasn't the usual dumb shit you see at a bar. It wasn't the shit you see tailgating at a game. It was all fun. I wish we could always have that much fun. Every single person out there.

Beer drinkers unite! And just because you shotgun Bud Light doesn't make you a beer drinker. I'm talking about the guys out there that will spend that extra $1 to get the better beer. Not the frat boys who drink off a keg of Nattie Lite. I'm talking about the boys out there that drink a good beer and drink it because it tastes good not because it gets 'em drunk. I'm talking about my friends at the Wolrd Beer Festival where no one knew your name and it didn't matter because you were treated the same.

Lets bring it into SS. Lets create a nice little community sometime where the shit talkers won't come. Lets make it a place that is so much fun that everyone has a good time and we dont' have to put up with dumb shit. Lets have the SS Con again or something. Lets do something in game at the least where everyone can have fun and idiots who complain aren't welcome and don't want to be there. Lets remember what it means to play a game.

And as my quote for the night goes "if it tastes that good from the outside I can only imagine how good it tastes on the inside."

Carthage Playoffs Visions

While this is mainly prediction and statiscal oddities and filled with much bias. Here are my predictions for how Carthage will fall into playoffs. In 24 hours, we'll see just how right I am or am not, but until them I'd like to think this is it baby. This is your Carthage Line-Up for playoffs. Normally its easy, but the sheer amount of make-up round matches involved makes it entirely difficult to really predict something at this moment.

The rankings will most likely be:

Rank	Squad	Record	Predicted Record	Wins	Losses	Probability of Exact Prediction	Probability of Record Match
1	Wretcheds	9-0	12 - 1	Heaven, BlackNike, OldShift	Fighting Foodons	20%	90%
I hands down put the odds against Wretcheds to finish the season undefeated. It just won't happen. They do not face a single weak squad in their final 4 mathces. All but Foodons are kinda flaky, but when they are on they are on. Wretcheds have ridden a lot of teamwork and chokes to make it this far, but the choking will stop sometime.
2	Tweaked	11 - 1	12 - 1	Fighting Foodons	N/A	70%	70%
Tweaked should beat Fighting Foodns and move into second place. This should put them in second, matching Wretcheds score but VERY far behind the differential that Wretcheds have built up all season. There is a chance for Tweaked to retain #1 if Wretcheds falls twice which is possible but not likely unless the 1 of the 3 flakiest squads in Carthage pulls it together.
3	Fighting Foodons	9-1	11-2	7rom, Wretcheds	Tweaked	25%	85%
Fighting Foodons will upset Wretcheds or possibly Tweaked, but I don't beleive they can take both. Especially if they are missing USS Evader aka Pasta Vazoomin'. 7rom is almost a guarnteed win, so they will at the worst they can be 10-3 at the best they can be 12-1. So in an any day but hte coldest day in hell they will be 3rd, but if hell does freeze over you could see Foodons end up 1st or 2nd. This requires both Tweaked and Wretcheds to lose alot.
4	Corrupt	8-4	9-4	Epik	N/A	65%	65%
Here's bias. I feel that my squad can beat Epik and that we will take the really tight race for squads 4-7. These positions are not set and will be determined by the remaining games. Epik took our bench out in preseason but with an influx of returning starters we should be able to take them out by isolating their one star F|E|A|R.
5	OldShift	8-3	9-4	ElementalForces	Wretcheds	70%	70%
If OldShift pulls off the unlikely and beats Wretcheds you could see them move up into the 3rd or 4th slot, but its almost guarnteed that they will be 4th or 5th. I do not see EF doing anything but a NS and I do not see them performing particuarly strong against Wretcheds, but anything is possible if jaakko and another play on and the rest don't choke.
6	Epik	8-4	8-5	N/A	Corrupt	65%	65%
Epik and Corrupt can change places just by having Epik win. Well not exactly. If Epik wins they will be 5th because of their differential where as Corrupt should easily have a higher differential than OldShift since Corrupt has 2 unconverted NS wins. Epik could possibly fall into 7th but I do not honestly see it hapenning unless BlackNike performs amazingly well and 12-0's and Corrupt 12-0's Epik. This could swing the differential towards BlackNike's favor.

Wildcard contenders

Rank	Squad	Record	Predicted Record	Wins	Losses	Probability of Exact Prediction	Probability of Record Match
7	BlackNike	7-4	8-5	Skyrakers	Wretcheds	70%	75%
Blacknike has the single most important match in the AML season in its hands. If it takes out Wretcheds it will disrupt the playoffs setting and put Corrupt, OldShift, or Epik into the wildcard spot instead of them. This is very unlikely, but if BNike can return to their preseason play it would happen. Sadly, I don't see it happening with the current level of ineptitude in its pilots and captains. BlackNike to win one of the wild card spots though and make playoffs
8	Heaven	5-6	6-7	ElementalForces	Wretcheds	90%	95%
Heaven should be able to dispatch EF, but I do not see them getting close to taking out Wretcheds. If they do take out Wretcheds they are not in the same situation as Bnike because they lack the wins to do so thanks to early season losses. I am impressed they made it through the season and I expect to see them in the playoffs as the last wildcard spot.
9	Warlords	4-7	5-7	7rom	N/A	60%	60%
Warlords are the wildest of the wildcard spots. I can easily see how they may take out 7rom and then take out whoever their wildcard opponent is. However, they need their best 4 playing their best which has not really happened this season. Warlords to end their season in the wildcard round.
10	7rom	4-7	4-9	N/A	Warlords, Fighting Foodons	60%	65%
7rom has been a giant let down since HV brought them a few random wins. Purple, HV, fishi, omegared, a psycho, and xblaze all possess the talent to make a squad run for their money, but this late in the season they have failed to impress anyone and usually look like Foodons in their first Heaven match-up. You can't count 7rom out yet, but I do not see them doing anything past the wildcard round. Posted by Cashew at 05:15 PM | Comments (173) | TrackBack AML Wildcard Picture and more Well here we are at the end of the season. Normally things would be just about settled, but this season with the advent of Wildcards nothing is for certain. In theory a 10th or an 11th seed could win the AML championship as it sits today. That means you Alcoholism, Warlords, and Victimize. Sadly it looks like Victimize has stopped showing to games, but what makes this season fun is that all those teams mentioned really still have a shot. The seventh seed in each division(BlackNike or a slightly higher seeded Carthage team, Thalion) seems set so the guessing really comes into play with the teams seeded 8-11. The shittiest draw among the Wildcard teams must be the 10th seed in Carthage. Who wants to face BlackNike in a playin game? Victimize is looking for a big win in their last game against SS Crips while praying for Warlords and 7rom to lose big. Warlords wants the get the hell out of that 10th spot by moving ahead of 7rom in what will CERTAINLY be the most compelling game this week. Warlords v. 7rom in week 16 for the right to NOT play BN. Heaven looks fairly secure as they face EF in what will probably be a NS win. In Rome division Secret(9) and -BlitZed-(8) will probably face each other in the playin game barring some Alcoholism magic. Alcoholism, courtesy of their win last week over BUNNER, seems to have the 10th seed wrapped up at least. They face Assent in the last game of the season and then they will most likely play Thalion in the play in game. Though the truth of the matter is.. if Alcoholism manages to not get blown out by Assent and then beats the shit out of Secret in the makeup round.. Alcos could be the 9th seed and thus avoid Thalion. Game of the Week this week: 7rominence v. Warlords at 8PM, PRIME TIME. Backup Game of the Week: SFE v. LI at 4PM. Game of division leaders where LI is trying to bounce back from a heartbreaking they got jacked by lag loss last week to HM. Fuck Sunday Night Football. Fuck Playoff Baseball. Subspace is life. Posted by Morphine at 04:31 PM | Comments (183) | TrackBack