Ok!
It looks like we finally got Season 10 of the European Natural Selection League underway. For future reference, Admin Team, don’t ask for people’s opinions; people are idiots.

Admirable’s Division 1 Predictions

Seriously though, if I have to spend another three hours chatting on Steam Community about which system is most suitable I might have to drive to Dublin and give jiriki a backstreet testicle transplant.

CRAB BATTLE!!! vs nineLegends

Wow! There has been a huge amount of excitement generated about the return of one of the greatest teams in ENSL history. That’s right folks CRAB BATTLE!!! are back…

With a roster that reads like the who’s who of European NS it’s easy to understand why everyone is so excited to see the Crabs return after finishing in the top eight two seasons ago in ENSL8. If you’re new to Natural Selection you should understand that we’re kind of a big deal here at (v)o_O(V). Seriously though, CRAB BATTLE!!! is a strange concoction to say the least. Take a handful of promising lower division players, mix in a few underachievers, a couple of baguettes and a dash of Irish rage and you’ve got a recipe for MAAADness. Commentators within the scene aren’t giving them much of a chance for ENSL10, but that doesn’t seem to be their dampening spirits. Bring it on!

Yep! NineLegends are back, and all it took was an ENSL poll. Although their charismatic leader, Fana, might play down such suggestions we all know he couldn’t resist the thought of all those screaming fans. The mere suggestion of nineLegends coming back was like an avalanche of drama; a dramalanche if you will. What started off as whispers soon turned into a torrent of good will as the people’s champions returned to stick it those pesky Sproggalots and the German War Machine. Well, not quite. Like some sort of montage from a Rocky movie, nineL have been engaged in some intensive training; shedding roll after roll of flab that has accumulated in their dormancy. It’s been tough, we’ve seen them lose to nearly everyone, but they are starting to reap the rewards now. Watch this space…

Impact players:
(v)o_O(V) : Daggah (Tank), gobot (Marine), doogie (Marine)
nineL * : Fana (All-round), Pizza (Marine), n44bj (Marine)

CRAB BATTLE!!! 2 - 2 nineLegends

Adz’ Final Thought: A Knife is useless against those massive claws!


Flatline-Ns vs de-stroyer

Second on the agenda this week is an all-German showdown; the champs versus the chumps. Yes, I’m too cruel, but this one is cut and dried.

Flatline-Ns are the undisputed Champions; ENSL9 and NSNC11 trophies are collecting dust in their cabinets and just check out those blingin’ icons on the plugin-enable servers! Fear them. Despite their customary period of inactivity they are still the team everyone is looking to beat. They’ve got another ace up their sleeve this season too; Kazakhstan’s finest, Gerhard “Macpersil” Klassen. He’s an awesome player, who has improved season after season with the now defunct Team Russia, and has now been given a chance to shine. I’ll be watching! All the other components for victory are correct and present, with phil, Cosmic and Handschuh being visibly active within the scene. The War Machine rolls on!

De-stroyer started off really well in the pre-season, asserting themselves as obvious candidates for Division 1. However, they have been plagued with commander problems, be it CraZyIvan’s rage-inducing internet connection or SaperioN’s willingness to give out his Steam account information. So at present it looks like they won’t have a “proper” commander until Week 3 at the earliest. Unfortunately this means they can’t really expect much more than a draw in any games until then, but time will tell. Described by many as “fucking tanks” I think de-stroyer have got a solid line-up with some good improving players like Cheesy and SuB-Zer0 and some experienced combatants. Their outlook for the future is good, but right now things look grim.

Impact players:
~flatline-ns` : Macpersil (Marine), phil (All-round), M (Fade\Shotgun)
de-stroyer | : Cobi (Marine), bp (Mastermind), SuB-Zer0 (Shotgun)

Flatline-Ns 4 - 0 de-stroyer

Adz’ Final Thought: Krautastic.

The Sproggalots vs Snowrollers

The Swedish Snowrollers face-off against The Second-place Sproggalots in our final bout this week; but who will win? Only I know…

I surprised that The Sproggalots have survived to see the start of ENSL10 after the emotional rollercoaster that young George “GibbZ” Gibbons has been on for the past few weeks. If you have been hiding under a rock just check out the ENSL forums. Crying-like-a-little-bitch aside, things are still looking good. Sprogga will be going all out this season to reclaim the title from the mighty Flatline-Ns. They’ve got their work cut out though with LOLSTEAMROLL and nineLegends mounting concerted efforts to scupper their title challenge. This is shaping up to be one of the most exciting seasons in a while. Grade-A Finn, Kuitmo, now completes the roster and they are looking strong, although klawz’s +10 Weakness to Base Rushes is an Achilles Heel that opponents will be targeting.

The Swedes return to Division 1 this season after demolishing Division 2 in ENSL9, and they’ve brought some friends! After the Baconmen resurrection came and went it seems a few of them still had a concealed erection for Natural Selection; so b1, BerglunD, biomass, Bismuth and web now call Snowrollers home. I’ve always thought that sR | are a team seriously lacking in confidence with moaning bastards like Zared always too happy to play down their ability. Hopefully the hot bacon injection can go some way to stoking the fires. I am still clueless as to who exactly will be commanding in their official games, so I am sceptical as to whether they can produce the goods there. They could steal an Alien Round here, but that depends on Sprogga.

Impact players:
sprogga ~ : GreeN (Marine\Skulk), GibbZ (Marine\Fade), Kuitmo (Marine)
sR | : web (Marine), atman (Marine\Fade), Action_IHOP7 (Lerk)

The Sproggalots 4 - 0 Snowrollers

Adz’ Final Thought: ==ALTY4FLASH==


Over and out.


Bacillus' Division 2 Predictions

Group A

Vital - bP

The old Finnish team Avalanche is trying to pull off a comeback this season. In their first match they face the French team Remember. Later on the drama at prem division has caused a few players to abandon steamroll and move to Avalanche. Citrus (aka Mythan!c) and Scale are potential big hitters in any round. In addition to the two powerhouses, avalanche packs experience all the way from 2.0 era. The only question is whether their activity is enough to renew their skill and teamwork to decent level. Their opponents, the Remember are a mixture of old players such as Injall and King Yo and some Frenchmen that have joined ensl during the last few seasons. They seem to be a well rounded team, but they might be lacking the big hitters. I'd say alien rounds are their opportunities to make this a draw. A lot depends on the participation of Scale and Citrus and the activity of the Avalanche.

Impact players:
Vital: Bigbanana (commander), Howdeh (all around), Android (all around).
bP: Hopefully I can name some bP players too next week.

Vital 4 - 0 bP


NS~F - Dom

Not much to be said, since the American teams are pretty much unknown to the European scene. Having the home team advantage, the ns~f should have the upper hand, but whether their marine rounds are strong enough to take victories is yet to be proven. Jiriki's experience should help them a lot though. The outcome might depend on whether the Force can field the old polish powerhouse Maxx.

Impact players:
NS~F: NS~F: Jiriki (all-around, experience), Maxx (marine/fade), Pessimist(marine)
Dom: Dreamingfairy (comm)

NS~F 3 - 1 Dom


Nameless - Orchid.ns

Another matchup involving a clan overseas. Not much to say about the American team, so let's focus on Orchid. Being a fairly new team in the business, Orchid isn't probably the the biggest favourite for the season, but their Sproggish mentors might have given the team a nice start. The biggest problem is probably the lack of more experienced players. The freshly added Vigilante should add some oldschool knowledge to the mix though. I'll predict alien draws for this match, especially since there is no veil played this week. Tanith might be the map to score a marine victory and seal the match.

Impact players:
Orchid: Vigilante (experience)

Nameless 2 - 2 Orchid.ns


Group B

Avalanche - Rm

The old Finnish team Avalanche is trying to pull off a comeback this season. In their first match they face the French team Remember. Later on the drama at prem division has caused a few players to abandon steamroll and move to Avalanche. Citrus (aka Mythan!c) and Scale are potential big hitters in any round. In addition to the two powerhouses, avalanche packs experience all the way from 2.0 era. The only question is whether their activity is enough to renew their skill and teamwork to decent level. Their opponents, the Remember are a mixture of old players such as Injall and King Yo and some Frenchmen that have joined ensl during the last few seasons. They seem to be a well rounded team, but they might be lacking the big hitters. I'd say alien rounds are their opportunities to make this a draw. A lot depends on the participation of Scale and Citrus and the activity of the Avalanche.

Impact players:
Avalanche: Mythan!c, Scale, Kilpikonna (Fade), Jygge (comm)
Rm: Khelben (the Singing Frenchman), Marmotte (the future bighitter?)

Avalanche 3 - 1 Rm


^Rawr - {x707x}

Yet another matchup involving American clan, so writing any comparsion is relatively difficult. ^rawR is a clan that has a lot of potential in it. Former top level Players such as Mercior, Sanguin, r3d and g are mixed up with newer faces like Shotgun-Ed and dA n00b. Combined with Lump's comming experience, they should be packing enough of punch to fight most clans in the lower divs. Whether it is enough against the Americans is yet to be seen.

Impact players:
^rawR: Lump (tominatoR`), g (former topskulker might still have some tricks left)
{x707x}: Underwhelmed (experienced in top level play (?))

^rawR 2 - 2 {x707x}