theres always one lame aliaser at every event, this time it was unknown aka mb`kazz. potentially, aliasers could destroy the balance in a league like this, but since kazz is not a number 1 seed, it worked out alright. first place in this group is a bit of a formality: with the help of his magical brown jacket and enigmatic toilet roll, 2fish will be fairly unbeatable. his opponents will be wise to adapt a strategy of distraction, in the form of a dull joke (eg. "two peanuts were on an airplane. one of them was a salted."). there will be an interesting fight for second place, since dest just got a new ta giving him 50 pings replacing the miserable connect he always had in the past. it could help him to defeat kazz, who thinks very (too?) highly of his ztn ability. there should be some close games, but i think dest will go through, especially if it goes to a tie-breaker on ospdm8.

saik is on modem, so it might seem surprising that hes placed 4th ahead of two lpb's, but gerry (a decent dueller in the past) has been inactive for a long time so unless he gets a good bit of practise in beforehand i don't think he'll beat saik who has been fairly active lately (although i'd say it will go to the 3rd map, which gerry probably doesn't know). if the league started two months later, i would expect a lot from ch, given the rate hes improving at. but despite his l33t 2mbit line which gives him a decent mg and rail, hes relatively new to q3 and lacking in experience. saik vs koopa will probably be played on lan, but i doubt that will make much difference to the outcome.

games to watch: dest vs kazz, gerry vs ch, saik vs ch, saik vs gerry.

group b
prediction: 1st lorcan, 2nd zero, 3rd nexus, 4th psyk, 5th devore, 6th dabounca.

lorcan will be the clear favourite in this group, t4 masta with weaknesses on other maps which could well be exploited by slpb zero or maybe nexus. zero's experience and ping should be too great for nexus and psyk so he'll take second, and if he can push lorc to the 3rd map, he could even finish first (i don't think lorc has ever played ospdm8). i think nexus should be comfortable enough in defeating psyk (despite his improvement lately), and i don't think dev or dab play enough online to challenge for 4th place. i've played dabounca in qw years ago, and in cs also (where he owns), but i don't think i've ever seen him play q3. devore on the other hand knows a lot about q3, and has played it on lan a good bit, i think he could take a game off psyk if things went well. if dabounca is looking to win a game in this division, i think he'll have to avail of the l33t hax0ring skills of nas or glenstall to nuke devore into 6th place.

games to watch: lorcan vs zero, nexus vs zero, nexus vs psyk.

group c
prediction: 1st bunny, 2nd vincent, 3rd killy, 4th dyna, 5th spaceman, 6th #meat#.

hopefully me, bunny, and vin can play all our fixtures this weekend on lan, which means i have very little chance of qualifying . bunny and vin are qw mastas, and very skilled on lan. i think vincent has the better aim, but bunny will have superior strategy and will own tactically. they could be interesting games, providing vin's lan aim hasn't been bollixed by all the isdn q3 he's been playing in the past few months. dyna should fit nicely into 4th place, having played much more q3 than spaceman. and #meat# the modemer will have a tough time in this division.

games to watch: bunny vs vincent, dyna vs spaceman.

group d
prediction: 1st z3on, 2nd mindphuck, 3rd jay, 4th tarzan, 5th wario, 6th tazzle.

this division "the taz division" is the one that i know least about. z3on is one of the only real net-players in the league. he is well used to his isdn and will be hard to beat on any map. mindphuck is a good railer, and consistent player, but i don't think i've ever seen him duelling. i'm taking a risk putting jay in 3rd... he has been inactive for a long time, and i have never really seen him play in the past, but he has a formidable reputation, and if hes on a l33t connection that will work well in his favour, its possible that he could win the group. i don't know how seriously he will take the league though, and i have never seen him on slosh so i can't really comment. tarzan aka derm0 will be playing his games from new york city. his dsl gives him a shaky ping around 130, which is a good bit better than modem, but a lot worse than irish isdn when it comes to 1v1s on slosh. hes after getting a bit used to his ping at this stage, and is a competent dueller, but he'll finish 4th. wario and tazzle don't play very much q3 afaik, so if they're both playing on their modems, wario will win easily. there is the possibility that tazzle might be slpb for the game (netcafe? or whats this 10mbit ftp hes always going on about.....) in which case wario will most likely lose out due to the ping disadvantage.

games to watch: z3on vs jay, mindphuck vs jay.