I wish there was a playoff in each division, and it does seem to be in the cards for the next season. My hope is that other admins and enough players will display their enthusuasm for the idea to make it a reality. Some don't find the playoffs exciting, often saying that the playoffs tend to devalue the regular round robin matches. This is true to a point, but the point of the regular matches will be to place your clan among the divisional playoff teams; the current thinking is to have the top eight teams face-off at the end of the regular matches. If you support this idea, then make note of it in the comments so the admins know what most desire.

In Division 7 the swedish Assassins are the clear leaders; except for a tough loss on e3m7 to the Pigs, these guys seem to have dominated most of their opponents quite harshly. That said, I found most the matches were close, though on specific maps clans had some serious ownage on their 'home' maps. FIPS with an interesting international set of players, lost to only ASS and quick omission; in my opinion, these guys played in some of the most entertaining games this season, especially the cmt4 game against the hippushnik clan. I hope next year that there will be no inactivity in this division.

In Division 6, mixu and his manly Irishmen in the Gauntlet crew were pressed for the top spot by the swedes of SKK. Though fnu and the osams did show very well in this division, neither were contenders to unseat the Irishmen. The swedes of SKK were led by the case and brbo on dm2 and did hand out some severe beatings on that map. Yet on dm3 Mixu and his Irishmen imprinted what must be harsh memories for SKK. This would be a division where any of the top 5 or 6 clans would be able to take to the top place in the event of a playoff round; though any betting man would put his money on the wily Irish_drinking_Guiness: the men of Gauntlet .

In Division 5, the guys Elaintarha finished on top tied with Clan Code for points. But in my view any of the top 4 clans could be up there, too, had but a few close games gone slightly differently. Yet that is qw tdm and we rise by it or fall by it; and as such the Finns of Elaintarha are the top dogs in div5 according the present rules and point awarding system. In this divsion I have really enjoyed watching the ancient gods; though they are not going to blow away cmf or sr anytime soon, their players apollo and afrodite are surely up and coming stars. On dm3 they have impressed me the most, especially in their utter rampage of the shadow minions, who are no slouches themselves, though they are presently strongest on e1m2. Again, this division would have a very tight playoff race if there was one.

In Division 4, there can be no denying the championship to the undefeated Paranoids. They had a couple of 2-1 matches, but they went undefeated nonetheless. Led by Milamber and aken, these guys were tough on the big three. Perhaps the most telling match of this division was between billy's burgers and para: all 3 games were played out on dm3, and all 3 matches were not very close...well, perhaps the second was, but not as close as the score shows. The Poles of Billy Burgers are a fun clan to watch, and I am sure they could actually upset Para on a good day; also, i am confident next season BB will advance, especially with flesper and billy and the dudes getting more and more of a routine on the big3. i think they would do well to improve on 2 maps other than the tb3 in order to put their opponents off-guard. Well what the hell, it can't but hassle the opposition to play on less comfortable or familiar territory?

In Divsion 3, there was a lot of talk about space and dag playing for E with hixen. Note there was a lot of talk about it. It did not amount to much, however. As dag and space weren't that active E, ended up somewhere in the middle of this division. I reason that dag and space shouldn't have been playing in this division at all, but I don't set the regulations; because dag is clearly one of the greatest all-round players in qw ever, he has attracted a lot of attention to this division; I am just pleased that his presence here didn't amount to anything significant in terms of the standings. For consider it like this: would anyone actually doubt E would win the division if both dag and space had played seriously for E in every game and had really tried? Of course not. Both of them belong among division 1 players where they have proven their worth many times before, and must continue to do so. A lot of the old hf guys I used to know were playing in Vets. Arguably they also were too good for division 3 and this has been decided by the standings as well: next season they will fight in division 2. The Finns in MNY will advance next season; especially as they are strong on two 'weirdish' maps e3m7 and cmt3. If they can get better on one of the tb3, they will be truly manly in division 2.

In Division 2, a few of my qw-heroes were seen at times roaming around. The sportsmanship in this division was second to none. If I had to admin just one division, I would pick this one; non-existent whining, players who play for fun, and players who know the game and can even laugh at themselves in certain situations. All of this exists in division 2 and makes it a great division to be around from an admin pov. CN has the Wayne Gretzky of qw in pietro; though he doesn't play much anymore, it is still a delight for old guys like me to see him frag around on the big 3 and even see him wander the likes of cmt4 against the high_pinged men of AG. I am sure pietro would rather play on tb3, but it is fun to watch his tactical instincts on a different playing field. But with exile and foppa playing most of the CN games, this was a very fine crew. However, HF, fudoh and fragomatic were all better in terms of points. The late season push by HF really astonished me, almost as much as the skill AG exhibited playing with those high pings; but it seems as though it was just enough to one up manulito and rfx of fragomatic. This is clearly yet another division that needs a playoff, especially with the regular season placing the top 5 or 6 teams quite tightly.

In Division 1, CMF rules. SR is back a bit in second place in terms of points, followed closely by FS and ds. Just behind ds are the men of X with the manly man Vladich. Vladich is man to be tied up and put out of a game if you are his opponent. I think X will be dangerous in this season's playoff run. No, I don't predict that X will win; but i do think they could give trouble to ds on dm2 or dm3, with whom they will likely meet up in the opening round. The campbusters have edged out the hyphen squad from eighth spot but i think fifi, shiva and the other manly_cmf-ers will quickly dispatch cb 2-0. DS is the squad with the wildcard; if they can get nbe playing and practising, then i think they will never lose on e1m2 and they will be ever so harsh on dm3. SR will go undefeated on that shaft_spam cmt1b; I don't think I have ever seen them lose that map and I wouldn't expect it to happen now. But SR is vulernable for I am given to understand that Paradoks may not play for SR due to a slashed hand injury. With UL gone from SR, they may have to go all Finnish to get by their first round opponent; and i think that will suffice for the first round. FS are in many ways my favourite squad because they have blxm, reppie_the_flying_dutchman, and the great swede razor. But i think the loss of blitz on dm2 will be tough for fs to overcome; I hope that drejfus will be of great help to fs. EQ has played some strong quake this season and i think they have done very well to finish in a playoff spot; though i do not expect to see them advance to the second round....that is, unless all the games are played on e2m7:) Look for X to surprise or even go out in a close series; SR will advance as will CMf. I predict another SR vs Cmf final. I also think the finals will go to a fifth game. But more on that later.

-strength and honour to all who have struggled in the manly man's game....and to all who will yet continue to do battle!
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