Sunday marked the last day of The League: D8 playoffs. The day found us at the base of another mountain - we would have to win every match, without Z, and even then we'd only be tied for first. Prevailing over impossible odds... It's what we do.

We went in with nothing - expecting nothing. I think I can soundly say that for the first time in the entire span of the league, we played to win for ourselves, rather than just to beat the other teams. After a little bit of rallying from Vinnie we all got on the same page: we wanted to win, and to win we had to win EVERY match. There was no losing on Sunday.

How to win? Nothing special. No trick lineups, no special builds (even if we did perform respecs and IO toons right before several of the night's matches). No, instead, we just showed up and held it down. Everyone was on point, and everything seemed to fall into place.

Before the matches we were jittery.
While assisting Vinnie in an on-the-spot-respec we were motivated.
When Vinnie's RP friends from virtue showed up to cheer for us we were determined.
After the night's first win we were enthusiastic.
After the night's second win (Against SMD) we were optimistic.
After SMD lost to dumb we were ecstatic.

We went in with nothing - we came out with everything. In one day we had changed the entire course of the league, and we had done the improbable. We still are good - too good for CoH - and several others have become good. Special thanks to Seethe for stepping up and filling in for March when he had to leave.

We finish the league as Champions, and with a D8 record of 31-3-1. Good games to everyone who ever played, with us or against. Now we all get to wear some shitty t-shirts and CoH lapel pins. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.

UTBG Division 8===============D: Klesk, Spiner, Peril, Z, March, Hoj, Vinnie, Silit, Reaver, Seethe, Treyy, Bhang, Feo, Statesguard, Capt, PF, Xanatos, and Vert: Congrats.

Another late commentary. UTBG faced off once again against Eternal Pain, better known as The Eagle Clan. This would be the last d8 match before playoffs.

Game 1: UTBG wins 4-3. They bring taunters and pick steel canyon map. We play a really sluggish match and nearly lose.

Game 2: UTBG wins 13-2. We were all somewhat demoralized by our poor performance in game one. More so when we see the lineup EP decides to run. It was based around setting up ASes and keeping our offense taunted. Our lineup had no conventional counters to this. What do we do to counter? Psh. Pick Eden map, of course. Seethe, Hoj, Vinnie, and March represent on the offensive end, while I run circles around dinosaur bones and watch the brute chasing me run into the dinosaur bones. 

Game 3: UTBG wins 10-6. We run stalkers in case EP tries to run more taunters. Coincidentally, EP switches to an identical lineup. Most everyone was on point, except me. I died three times - so the match was much closer in score than it should have been. 

Thanks again to those players on D6 who stepped up to fill in for absent D8 players. We end the regular season with by far the best record of any D8 team: 26-3-1. I believe the recent win streak of our D6 has nudged them into second as well. Good job so far, let's drop some bombs in playoffs. 

Belated commentary because Vinnie is lazy.

Game 1: UTBG wins 19-9. We pick Outbreak and bring stalkers as a precaution since CIGAL is known to run stalling lineups (since everyone on their team is just down right terrible). To our surprise, they actually bring a jump team. It should be noted that we were a great deal shorthanded for this match - So props to the d6 guys who stepped up to fill in.

Game 2: CIGAL wins 4-2. CIGAL picks the Cargo Ship map. We stick with our stalkers in case they decide to run a wacky lineup... and run a wacky lineup they do. CIGAL borrows a page from the Virtuous Vanguard playbook and uses a team based around TPing enemies into a huddle which said enemies can't escape from. By the time we realized their intent we were already down a kill and forced to play to their pace. Between some sloppy game-play on my part, and some impeccable luck on CIGAL's (Accidently TPing people just as their oranges dropped), we were unable to take back the lead. CIGAL showed that they are willing to do literally anything to get a win, as they even had their own teammates quit out of the match as they were being spiked, to prevent us from scoring kills.

Game 3: UTBG wins 16-2. We keep the same lineup, and to our joy, CIGAL switches to a lineup identical to ours. Random map selection is Cargo Ship. Everyone is on point. Heals are clutch, offense is springy. Kat manages to die on a stalker.

Props to everyone who showed up to play, especially those who weren't expected to do so.

For the second time, usedtobegood faced off against "So Much Dam" (formerly Post Op We'll Talk upon deciding to unsuccessfully rip off Justin's phrase) in a set of D8 matches.

Previously, some of POWT's membership had claimed that their loss during the first official would not have taken place had Mage been playing. We can only assume that their confidence was now at an all time high what with Mage being available to play. Plus, with Alarys starting on Emp, their old skills from JaL (just kidding) were clearly returning. They were a force to be reckoned with. A mountain was placed before the unpracticed team that is usedtobegood, and we were told to climb that mountain.

Fortunately, we have the greatest mountain climber in the world on our team.

Game 1: usedtobeokay? wins 3-1

So they picked Steel Canyon, brought 4 blasters, 2 taunters (pause) and 2 emps. After practicing his dom twice, peril opted to prove that it was a viable choice in an official, thus we ran 1 rad, 4 blasters, 1 dom, and Spiner/Klesk (I don't describe them as "emps", as they have now evolved into their own category of AT)

So, vent's working perfectly. We're up 3 kills. No big deal. And then our vent crashes?

It was pretty sweet. I was too lazy to set up a firing bind, so I just kept spamming targets while we ran around trying to figure out a vent situation. Fortunately Spiner and Klesk are both from the planet Namek, and were able to hold Post Op to 1 kill. We won.

Game 2: usedtobeterribleLOL wins 16-14

Our map choice. Eden's fun. Seeing the irony in their usage of a double taunter line-up, POWT brings a line-up designed to overload on offense. 1 rad, 3 blasters, 2 stalkers and 2 emps. We stuck with what was working, knowing that THIS match would be the proving ground for peril's dominator.

And prove he did.

Peril illustrates the KSing power of m3zm3r1z3 (one love, VORI) while the rest of our offense is able to set a pace that, while POWT is able to keep up with, can't overtake. Big ups to Silit for channeling the spirit of Void while playing the game with 4fps and still making a solid performance.

Also, shout-outs to Vex (#lurkmuch) for a prompt Thunder Strike on h0j.

All seriousness though, the 2nd match was highly contested and the biggest challenge we've faced thus far. We weren't at the peak of the mountain yet. But what did I say about having the world's best mountain climber on our team?

Game 3: usedtobeblack wins 15-8

The game randoms my favorite map because my penis is basically a celestial body. We swap out the dom for a fort and end up playing another fairly close match with POWT. Several differences in our teams and playstyles enable us to maintain the pace that we continually set in every match we partake in, eventually allowing us to score a set of kills near the end that pulls us far ahead. We reach the summit of the mountain, place a penis flag there (in honor of Alarys) and do another Chocolate Zulu Magic dance.

Good games, if the commentary makes you mad then you probably need to do some cardio and drop some pounds.

Sunday. April 11th. A day that will be remembered forever.

Why? Not because we faced off against dUmb, no. We remember this day as it is the day that one of the greatest contributors to the Detroit, and worldwide hip-hop scene was lost to us.

RIP Big Proof. You are missed.

Anyway, blah blah blah we played dUmb on Sunday in a set of d8 matches.

Game 1: usedtobegood ties dUmb 7-7

Knowing full and well that dUmb was going to be bringing a storm team (gay) we decided to bring our own storm team (gay) featuring peril (gay) on a solo storm corruptor (gay). We anticipated dUmb picking Tech lab (gay) and gave it our best shot. Big ups to Trey for stepping up to the plate on his sonic blaster. It should be noted that he was the only person with absolutely no experience facing off against a storm team on that map, and despite the Hiber camp (Auschwitz) that dUmb pulled off on him (gay), we were able to keep the pace with them and pulled out the tie.

Game 2: usedtobegood wins 14-0

Our map choice. We decided to go with Eden and do a Chocolate Zulu Magic dance on dUmb's chest. I ran around coaching doyler on the dos and don'ts of taunting (specifically: leave me alone) while our offense set the pace. As always, the shut-out credit goes to Spiner and Klesk, who I have discovered recently are both psychic alien octopus babies (they did not deny this) which explains their ability to out emp anyone (I know like 4 faggot lurkers that are gonna read that comment and get raged. 8========D)

Game 3: usedtobegood SILENCES THE STORM TEAM BITCH 3-2 SUCK MY 8====================D

So dUmb opts to play it safe and decides to run their storm team (gay) again. Knowing that the map was random, we hoped that the odds would be in our favor and selected a high offense team. However, being that dUmb is (gay) and this game favors (gays) they ended up drawing Tech Lab (gay). That said, I rallied the team with my incredible speech giving skills, and they went on to solely win the match while I watched (and peed myself a little).

GGs dUmb. Try not to get too offended by the commentary. I mean even you guys know you're gay if you rock a storm team. That doesn't mean we don't love you.

Game 1: UTBG wins 18-6. INA brings a very offensive lineup. We picked the Outbreak map and both teams loaded in successfully. 

What? You were expecting more? They were playing against Klesk and Spiner on emps. Enough said.

Game 2: UTBG wins 25-5. We expected them to pick Tech map, but secretly hoped that MaX was stoned and told then to pick Eden map. To our dismay, they picked... Eden? Ohdam. No dismay I guess. We loaded in, then proceeded to unzip our pants and take a giant shit on their faces.

Game 3: INA forfeits because they have small penises, then they quit the league because they are too mad. 

GGs to all who participated. No D6 matches this Thurs, so let's grab some practice after everyone else finished their matches.

On Sunday the 28th, UTBG's D8 faced off against EP. As far as getting a last minute lineup together, this is probably the closest to the wire it's gotten yet. Spiner made a clutch showing just as the match was listed, and my 8 year old Desktop (that gets 3-14 fps) came to the rescue when my laptop's heatsink stopped working.

Game 1: U2BG wins 16-11. We picked Skyway map, but failed to pick a single strategy. Peril's strategy was to have everyone break left at the start of the match for no reason. Klesk's was to fake a DC and not heal anyone for the first two minutes of the match. Vinnie's was basically to ignore Peril, and by himself, charge into EP's spawn point. By the end of the first two minutes of the match we'd called one target and taken three deaths. But, we have very big dicks, so we won anyway.

Game 2: U2BG wins 17-7. They picked Eden. We farmed their support and won.

Game 3: U2BG wins 15-5. Random map went to Striga. Same thing as game two, but there were trees.

GFs to all involved. Way to bring it back and get it together after a very sloppy start. Laurels for everyone. 

Oh, and since POWT likes to regularly read our GP: Hello. We will soon be on Twitter - we hope you will follow us there as well.

RAFTW thought it would be cool to run four taunters. Well, now they have Frost Elf D on their team. GG.

Game 1: RAFTW wins 1-0. RAFTW has map pick and choses Perez. We bring a jump team - they bring four taunters and two stalkers. We took off to an aggressive start, and it looked as if we'd be able to pull out a 1 or 2-0 win even with the four taunters on our dicks. Then, the unthinkable happened - Z got caught with a double AS - RAFTW played evasive for the rest of the match. 

Game 2: UTBG wins 5-2. Want to be gayer than POWT? That's strait. Bitches don't even know about our stalker lineups (Neither did we). We picked Skyway map and switched to a stalker based lineup. RAFTW kept the same lineup. Vert and Vinnie went clutch on ASes and everyone one else was pretty much on point. Also, HoJ is the best brute in CoH.

Game 3: UTBG wins 7-2. Both teams ran similar lineups to those used in game two but with minor alterations (Klesk got to play his widow). Both teams loaded successfully onto the Perez map. Basicly, we are too good at running lineups we've never practiced on, so we won. That or HoJ carried us. 

Either way, GGs to all who played. We'd be down points this week for losing a match - but POWT lost to dUmb because they don't know how to target through MMs - so we are in the same place we were last week. Oh, our D8 has the best record so far, let's keep it rollin'. Our D6 is getting pretty sharp too so I think we genuinely have a shot in the end. Speaking of D6, wish them luck against RAFTW's D6 on Thursday. 

Breaking news: We are officially the best team in CoH.
Because we beat POWT? No.
Because we beat POWT without practicing or even playing much at all for two weeks.

Once again, the pre-match prep consisted of us trying to scramble together a lineup with the people that showed up, and putting people on positions that they had never practiced on. Vinnie, who was once again not expected to attend - this time because he was being a lumberjack - appeared as we were preparing to submit lineups.

Game 1: UTBG wins 5-3. We picked Outbreak. POWT brought two Emps and six Psi/Ems - We brought our double Brute jump lineup. About thirty seconds into the match it became abundantly clear that not practicing over the last two weeks was probably a bad idea. Offense was sluggish, Z didn't bring his track shoes, and we even forgot to dance during the buff period. Still, we squeaked out a win. Also, POWT is gay.

Game 2: POWT wins 4-8. Both teams kept the same lineups (with some minor switching of players). POWT picked Skyway. There was some serious confusion with lineup submission, so a reset was needed. However, in the end, everyone just concluded that POWT was gay, and got on with their matches. Our offense was still lacking, and the taunters seemed to be losing effectiveness. Our strength in the past had been the ability to completely overpower another team's offense with our speed - that wasn't happening. We glumly took the loss and prepared ourselves for game 3.

Game 3: UTBG wins 16-10. We officially mandated that Brutes were out of style and that we would need a Kin so we could move really fast and stuff. We decided to go out with 2 Emps, 1 Kin, 4 Blasters, and a Rad. POWT kept the same lineup as before (It should be noted that POWT is really gay). We came out of the gate looking strong, dropping targets one after another with little pause. We lost some momentum around the middle of the match, and started trading kills for a few minutes before we took back the pace toward the end.

GFs to all who participated. We are awesome. Practice is for the birds. 

We now have the best d8 record of any team, and if our d6 does as well as we did on Thursday, we should have the overall lead.

Sunday marked the beginning of the League's first fight week. U2BG faced off against BoBC in a match of three games. Some of us were uncertain going into the match, as we would be playing without March and Sneaky.

8=D

8============================D

This GP will now sponsor the i16 FPvPL team: Used 2 Be Good (U2BG).

The domain name has been changed to a new one , and the site can now be reached directly by going to rpvp.guildportal.com. Please note that there is no WWW in front of the address!

Thank you for choosing GuildPortal as your guild's home on the web!