bwctfl announced its divisions this week, i think they're final now. ts are still going strong in division 1, and theres not much change in the opposition this time around either. scrb are back up after a season in division 2, and x4 who just barely beat fh to 3rd place in div2a last season also find themselves in the top flight, despite finishing well below second placed zn (who lost out in the playoffs). it might not be a bad idea though, since last season was their first, and they're likely to have improved on their ctf teamplay enough to compliment their division 1 tdm skill/connects.

3vl and wc come from division 2b; wc have shown in other competitions that they're well capable of performing at this level, and if their connects are good then i would even consider them as title contenders, despite finishing below 3vl last season. 3vl have had a lot of success at division 2 level (including clanbase 2nd league) lately, although i don't know how to expect them to perform in division 1. i would expect them to finish lower midtable, but it will be interesting to see how they match up with the likes of nv.

the reigning champs fuk have a much smaller teamlist this time around, but still contains 6 members of last season's uk team in cb nations (and one from the belgian team) so they'll probably be confident of retaining their title, but on paper, their main challengers this season will be gzd and recap (with a dsl'ed anarchy this time around most likely), and hopefully holyshit if they can get all their players on good ping.

fh are still in division 2a, some new additions this time around include the well known dutch clan firing squad, who are giving ctf a try. there are plenty of experienced players in their line-up, including some ex-division 1 and dutch national team players, so i will expect a lot from them this season. lag and xpd come up from jb's division 3a. lag are a relatively new team that did well to finish first in their division, but having seen them lose a map to jobos, its hard to say how they will perform here. they have had some great results in jolt q3ctfl so far, hammered omg who are a solid division 2 clan, although it was on a gay map which nobody plays (q3w5). if thats eoe-s1l in their teamlist though, then they're probably a much better team than last season. xpd got knocked out of this division in season 8, and i haven't played them in a long time so i don't know how much they've improved since then the other new clan is benelux clan dxa. i don't know anything about this clan except the decent results i saw on their website, so i would expect them to fit right in here.

the rest of the clans look very close in ability: rofl, tc, zn, inf, -dx-, and hopefully fh are all capable of taking maps off each other. its impossible to predict how this division will shape up, but if i had to take a guess, i would expect zn and tc to finish top, with rofl and fs challenging them. with very little activity and no improvement in our connections, i can't see fh making a huge impact here (unless i get dsl ), i would be happy to finish 4th again same as last two seasons, but theres so little difference between the clans that we could just as easily finish down the bottom. :(

jobos in division 3a have made some promising recruits since last season, some good players like sk!a (an irish player living in uk) and nutkins (formerly of pr who don't play q3 anymore). if rapier gets on esat dsl this season, then maybe the l33t ping would allow him to enjoy ctf enough to participate actively this season. i think if they were to field a team along the lines of sk!a on flag, rapier on rail def, nutkins, benji, and dallow in attack, each game, then they would be battling for the title with icf and noot. but its impossible to say how it will turn out for jb, it will all depend on the activity of their players, and how their teamplay develops. all they need is a bit of consistency, so hopefully they'll find it this season.

moany dark-preachers should also be title contenders, but their season will be ruined when they lose, clearly because of warp, to 500ping death from portugal. i'm probably being unfair to a lot of clans here, but i just don't know them well enough. gp looks too much like swcs to get promoted, and mia have never had the consistency to make it out of this div. i don't know sps at all, and i haven't seen enough of bdi lately to comment on them.

anyway, its nice to have another season thats not pay to play, hopefully the servers won't be too laggy for our isdners, and keep praying that some of us can get dsl