season 9 of bwdml will be

kicking off next week. three irish clans this time around, bio in div1, nd in div2b, fh, in div3c. bio are in division 1,

where the clans need no introduction so i'm not going to waste my time talking about them fh will probably be focusing

more on ctf this season, since the tdm is a bit pointless with all our players on gay isdn. so i had a look at nd's division

while we wait for bigfoot's expert preview. remember, anything said below is probably completely wrong because i know

nothing. email all comments and complaints to jonathan.deane@ul.ie

although the divison 2 groups are well balanced, i think
href="http://leagues.barrysworld.net/bwq3dml/divisions.php?section=22" target="_blank">div2b
is a fraction more difficult than the other two. nd have a season of

bwdml experience behind them which should help them build on last season's venture, but they will suffer again from their

lack of practice, especially online. the map choice will definitely suit them, with the return of pro-dm6 and the ommission

of dodgy poq3dm5. their acquisition of ser made a very positive impact on nd's performances towards the end of last season.

if he had continued to play q3 over the past few months and been able to play in all of nd's games this season then i would

have no doubt that they would get promoted from this group, possibly winning the division. i think qw has been his priority,

though, so if he does play for nd he'll be far from his best, and if he doesn't, then they will miss his ability and

connection.

first up for nd is the clan with the similar tag nv; another uk ctf

clan following in the footsteps of kr who did well in this division last season. nv are not as good as kr in ctf, but this

might not be the case in tdm, as they have a number of experienced players including mad (formerly in m5) and abyss (from bio

afaik). they performed fairly well in the first

to 100 cup (a competition which includes a few other teams from this division), finshing 4th overall. i don't think

they'll have a problem fielding a skilled team of 4 each week, but as with most new tdm clans, their performance this season

will depend on how well they gel.

ug (unit of ghosts) is a big super french clan with q3 tdm, q3

ctf, cs, ut tdm, and ut ctf teams. i don't know how many times they have renamed, but last season they were mb and mb* or lk

and lk* or both. from the looks of it they merged the two sides and didn't take their place in division 1 (mb won the

division last season iirc). their recent results are impressive, most notably in
target="_blank">gladiator tour which must have been a big lan in france, where they won all their group games, even

beating the top french clan aaa en route to the final, before losing the rematch against their bw div1 rivals in the grand

final. ug will be clear favourites to win this group imo.

lost are a belgian clan who got promoted from div3, having first come

through a playoff. i think they'll be the most likely relegation candidate in the group. they lost a good player sickness

to the div1 clan ndc, which will not help their campaign this season.

nd will meet ql in week 4. quake lemmings are a uk clan who have

come a long way from the qox days at the bottom of division 5 by recruiting a lot of div2 standard players. their first team

is well able to compete at this level, but if their key players don't play a lot then they could get into trouble here. they

did well in joltq3dml despite mixed performances, and finished

second in div1 i think, but the standard there was a lot lower than it is here.

ek are a familiar outfit who managed to eliminate nd's promotion

hopes in the final game last season. they're a decent team and having added a good belgian? player el_aurian to their lineup

(if he was there last season i didn't notice him) then they can only be getting better. it is rumoured that there exists in

their squad a high ping isdner from ni who has beaten ireland's no.1 challenger to *nemesis* in a duel on more than one

excuseful occasion. they finished 2nd place behind gzd in the first to 100 cup.

last season nd lost narrowly to the belgian clan =da=, but on

more traditional maps (dm6 and cpm4) i don't think they'll be making the same mistake again. having said that, =da= are not

a bad team, significantly stronger than the other belgian clan in this division i would say, and are capable of taking points

off any team here. scilla is new to their line-up - a player with div1 experience from il and ndc.

the uk clan vgo finished third in the first to 100 cup, and have put in

some good performances in the jolt and blueyonder leagues, although when fh met them in jolt div1 last season we were

comfortable winners by 50-60 frags each map. their success in bydml has been attributed to their ninja aaa-appleseed who

can't play for them in bwdml. they have another star player called r2k, but i think they lack the strength in depth to make

an impression here.

i would say this title can only go to ug, but remembering last season, nd under disastrous circumstances looked the better team

on dm14 when they clashed, narrowly missing out thanks to dodgy connects. in the next map the frenchies showed what they're

capable of, but their dm14 performance along with a couple of unconvincing results last season suggested that they are far

from invincible. i think nv are the dark horses, they have the quality to cause some surprises, but the season could go

either way for them. for na daghda it will be another testing season, and depending on their setup could end in glory or

another midtable finish. watch this space.***

* i actually mean the space on the news page where we will be updating on bwdml

** not you, space.