...Better late than never. Should be a busy weekend, as Quaxy and DiE are the only clans to have played their week 2 matches so far!

Week 2 maps

tommyd's 3.5 year old brain-child ns_tanith gets its 2nd round this week. A nicely balanced map (with the exception of the Waste hive) that allows multiple strategies- everyone loves tanith!

The usual marine tactic sees one squad of grunts heading straight to double with another squad getting the unenvious task of building base then getting their asses kicked in chemical transport. With double res being so close to MS (and thus a good supply of res), the marines can afford to put a lot of pressure on alien RTs. If the marines win, chances are the 2nd hive never went up.

A disciplined alien team stands a good chance if the hive is SatCom or Fusion. An RT in acidic and the 2nd hive location puts you in a good position- concentrate on defending the RTs until you have a Fade. The Waste hive poses a bit of a problem. Your best bet is to finish it quickly with a zerg-style Skulk rush at the start; or build 1 RT in Fusion and get 2 flash-Lerks to defend it with their lives.

The semi-popular ns_origin is this weeks new map. I always see this map as an alien-biased version of tanith.

The marines have no set start-up tactic: the only thing you should know is that a relocation won't work. Persoanlly, I feel that it's too hard to take down alien RTs early-game; my advice would to be to whore res and keep the aliens restricted to 2 RTs max.

For the Kharaa- assuming you have good Skulks and a good SoF Lerk then regardless of your hive, I'm a fan of building both double res towers and planting an SC on the top rafters. Although with the Biodome hive, it might be best to ambush the Computer Lab marines, then head over to MS for some fun.

Oh, bonus points to anyone who frags a Fade with the double res lift.

Premiership Predictions

saunamen - bte (Match of the week)

This one could go either way. Both teams had a great 1st week, with bte only losing to storm due to a bte base rush on caged that, if anything, worked too well and got their team spawn-camped. saunamen will be high on confidence after the demolition of new comers rage.ns, and the Finns have a knack for playing exceptionally well on origin.

Prediction 2-2. Too tight to call.


[EoD] - Insane

Billed as "team Spain Vs. team France" this should be another good game to watch. Both sides took the scalps of Finnish teams last week, although Insane had the tougher opponents. EoD have some great players, but I think Insane will edge this one- their awesome team-play, capped with animz's Fading makes them the favourites.

Prediction 4-0 to Insane, but EoD won't be push-overs.



|el'pheer| - Levitacus

This all-Finnish clash has the potential to be a bit one-sided. Maybe el'pheer rely a bit too much on ots and TriggerHappy. If Trigger has a bit more luck with his Lerking last week (his connection died on him last week during the caged round), then they may well stand a chance on the alien rounds, but I fully expect Levi to dominate their own alien rounds- the Levitacus clan of Spring 2005 had the strongest alien origin round in Europe.

Prediction 4-0 to Levitacus. This could kick-start their season.



rage.ns - storm

rage.ns will be disappointed with their 4-0 loss to the saunamen last week. I feel that they have much, much more to offer- but nevertheless, I can't see them turning a 4-0 loss against saunamen into a victory against Europe's strongest. By their own admission, storm had a disappointing alien tanith round last week- something I'm sure they have worked on. Out of nowhere, all-rounder b1 has turned himself into a decent Fade- as if they didn't have enough class across the board already!

Prediction 4-0 to storm. Cue Unreal Torunament announcer: "unstoppable!"


Select lower league predictions


rainbow - fbh (Division 1)

After favourites Devil's Talon slipped up against Random this week, it is now expected that one of these 2 clans could top the table (and be in the Premiership next season!). rainbow would have been the pre-game favourites, but with the loss of commander and leader 'Xassidy from the ENSL, rainbow look to have been thrown into chaos. JetJaguar looks set to lead the line-up with his decent aim, with bp being his opposite number.

Prediction 3-1 to rainbow. Assuming they find a new commander!


Evil | - TeaMf | (Division 2)

A tough one to call- TeaMf didn't have the easiest time last year, having been seeded in the 2nd division (this years equivalent of the 1st division)- but having the experience of last year should make them a stronger clan. Opponents Evil have a large roster with some good names- Ghost and T7 to name but two. Unfortuantely due to inactivity, a question mark remains over those players. If they had them, Evil would definitely put up a good fight.

Prediction 3-1 to TeaMf. The experience of TeaMf will show.