So, not much has changed over the past month competitively. CEVO's still on hiatus, with no end in sight - in fact, not even a whisper of what is to come. As posted in the last State of the Game, there were rumours of another tournament to spike some attention back to TF2, but my own personal beliefs about the delay are either a) they can't find an Admin who wants to run the league, or b) there's an argument going on behind closed doors about whether or not they should even run a league, considering how poorly the first one in both divisions ended up (FFs in the playoffs kinda killed any momentum buildup). I for one don't really blame them - CEVO's the most premiere online gaming league we've got on this side of the pond, and last season's debacle of a run was nowhere near the CEVO standard. Hopefully teams keep that in mind when CEVO announces whatever's next.

Meanwhile, CAL has completed it's first regular season run and is about to enter the playoffs. It's been interesting to watch what new names challenge the 'known' teams, with the opening season being just one giant mish-mash of teams (pro and otherwise). Clans like 2y1b, lolz, Fidelity & Paradigm Shift have shown some potential beyond just dominating the lowly community clans, but until they play in a league with the big boys, all they'll have is potential.

TGL continues to weed out the deadbeat clans that can't hold 6 players down, a process which I now am convinced every free-league will go through for each and every season it runs regardless of the number of teams that sign up, and with most of the teams actually participating having a pretty solid CAL record to go with the 3 or 4 CEVO-A level squads, the league seems like a great step between the CAL plebs & the CEVO gods (har har har). Seriously though, TGL is shaping up to be a pretty decent middle-ground league and I hope it continues to grow during this CEVO-hiatus.

Finally, the European scene seems to have plateau'd a little bit lately and is showing signs that it's no less ceceptible to team deadbeat-ery then NA. ETF2L is going strong with the finals of their 2nd Cup still to come, but Season 2 is looking a bit shaky as teams drop out and matches are endlessly delayed. The top divisions have yet to go a week getting all the scheduled matches in on time, making the standings almost pointless to look at. ESL's Major Series is about to enter its tournament stage, but losing 3 teams of a total of 16 - including a former kingpin in Kompaniet - kinda hurt. Still, an exciting tournament awaits that will pit the best against the best numours times over.. not to mention the first of what I hope will be many showdowns between NA's top team (Pandemic) and Europe's best (whoever that may be).


I'm always amazed how Valve manages to perfectly balance the essence of "awesome" with the essence of "oops". Not only did they release the patch the day of GTA4's release (great timing, eh?), but they left a backdoor open to unlocking all medic achievements(used by yours truly), totally undermining the point of achievements in the first place.

Yet, regardless of this total gaff, there's still no denying that the content is badass. Goldrush is an instant success, spawning 24/7 servers faster than a badlands final cap, and the new medic weapons are pretty friggin' awesome. I've already seen 3 or 4 movies of two medics continuously uber-charging, and it's funny as hell each and every time. And, more importantly, it makes me excited as hell to see what's next - HEAT SEEKING MISSILES FOR SOLDIERS, ANYONE?!?


While the reasons have yet to be made public, Pandemic is going through a stage of transition - after picking up axe to replace perfekt, then losing their demoman, dummy, to RL, Pandemic has now dealt a major blow to one of its chief rivals, Devastation, by luring scknss into the fold, destroying what was one of the best scout-duos in the game (scknss + punisher). It seems Pandemic is pulling together the top talent in North America in their path to world domination - and while I'm not at liberty to say what the next move will be, trust me, it ain't over yet.


As I stated about a month ago, I am about to embark on my own 3 month hiatus that will most likely make it impossible to keep the site updated. While I may be able to occasionally drop in and post a story or two, the likelyhood is that rk will fall off the face of the earth until early August, at which point his triumphant comeback with shake the world to its very core.

Unfortunately, with no one having stepped forward to take my place, it's very likely that the GotFrag page will stagnate for a while - but I hope that both these forums and the scene itself remain alive and well in this game we all know and love. There is no doubt in my mind that the scene will indeed continue to live and grow, for this game is too good to be left by the wayside. My only regret is that, for a little while, I won't be around to see it grow, and to help in my own small way. God help me, what if I come back and the Euro's have invaded our leagues and are dominating? Or that mNm reforms and dethrone's Pandemic? Or that Valve turns TF2 into an MMO? The possibilities are endless, and terrifying.

lol, but either way, I wish all clans and fans the best of luck over the summer, and look forward to catching up on all the latest happenings when I return - as well as maybe take on a few other responsibilities in the TF2 community ;)