)(Master)(
Last season: Made the playoffs with a whole lot of luck in being placed in a weak division. Were eliminated in the first round 4-12 by BlackNike, the squad that eventually won the championship, 2-3 regular season record.
Master's last season left a whole lot to desire for. They had a couple of big-name players, the much hyped Born Slippy and Thaller to be exact, both decided not to show for a single match during the season and now neither of them is rostered. Now at least the stupid newbie predictors won't expect them to suddenly show up, err... to tell you the truth, Master's roster seems quite weak, Crazy_Canuck and Elthia are decent pilots, but Wish Master )!( has disappeared from the roster, if he isn't a part of the "new" Master, the squad's in big trouble. Wish Master was the only player in last season's playing lineup who could maybe start for a higher level AML squad and definitely the heart and soul of the squads playing lineup. This season will be hard for Master unless one of the many unknown pilots step up and do some real damage.
Prediction: A weak division might open the playoff-door again, but probably not. A classic playoff squad might not be playing after the regular season this time.
Ideal starting lineup: Crazy_Canuck, Elthia, Chrome, BugEater
-BlitZed-
Last season: A catastrophic season for the old squad. A 1-4 regular season including a loss to Master ended up eliminating BlitZed in the regular season.
The struggling squad has changed a little from last season. White_Devil, Pretty Hate Machine, Kentasaurus and Ham are gone from the roster, a notable new recruit is LordVegas, who has been to several big squads in the past, I remember him from BloodLust back in the squad's Pro days. BlitZed has eight players, so some recruiting will have to be done, last season's terrible showups should prove that. ChronicFlash is the squad's carrying force and BlitZed's form depends greatly on how well he plays. Madboy has been with BlitZed for quite a while and he's a solid pilot too. Thinks don't seem too bright for BlitZed at the moment. The squad has lost a lot since being to IML some seasons back. A playoff spot is possible if the best players show for the right matches in good form.
Prediction: Can turn some heads with their strongest lineup and might even make the playoffs if everything works out right. Can't expect anything more though, the lack of bench is hideous.
Ideal starting lineup: ChronicFlash, LordVegas, madboy, B L I N K Y
Alcoholism
Last season: Alcoholism didn't win a single match last season, quite as expected, they did show some signs of life however and have some potential.
Alcoholism hasn't got a listed roster yet, so this writeup won't be very covering. Meditation's squad begins it's third season of AML action without a single victory. Meditation has gained some skills during his captaincy and he's got solid pilots backing him up in Lord Schnitzel and Big Brother. If SEAL returns, his performance against Birds of Prey last season will be remembered. Alcoholism is a squad that's pretty much following the tracks of BUNNER's early seasons, we'll have to wait and see how far that'll take them in the long run. I might change this as soon as Meditation unleashes his new roster.
Prediction: Playoffs are a possibility if the division is right. A first victory would be an achievement too.
Ideal starting lineup: Meditation, Lord Schnitzel, Big Brother, SEAL (?)
Birds of Prey
Last season: Eliminated from the playoffs on the final regular season round as they lost to Ferrum. Ended the season with a 2-3 record and did leave a lot of unaswered questions.
Birds of Prey, I named them a championship contender last season...how wrong I was, BoP had a weak season and missed out on the playoffs. I heard of BoP and NightBane merging for AML and I notice at least Capitalist Defender from NightBane on BoP's new roster. The only real loss from last season is Salami Swammi and the new recruits are quite powerful. For example, Dezacrator, Pryde!, Zide and Twista. It will probably be difficult to spread out the playing time for all these pilots. The older BoP players like Dagger, designator and COJONES!! add their spice to the soup and BoP is in for an intresting season. Also, Zilla (aka da Zillaman) has returned to BoP from EpiK. BoP has a dozen solid pilots who can start in matches, the problem is that they don't have the playerbase to challenge the strongest squads in the league. Still, the squad can go far.
Prediction: With this roster they have to make the playoffs, most likely a couple of rounds in.
Ideal starting lineup: Dagger, designator, Dezacrator, Pryde!
BlackNike
Last season: AML Champions. A 4-1 regular season with a loss to Llamasery. They beat Master, No Data and Blasphemy to reach the final and then took down Idiosyncrasy in the third match.
If your season ends in a victory, you have probably succeeded in something great. BlackNike defied the odds and took the championship and followed Unforeseen to the long list of league champions...and then came the hard part. They were supposed to move up to IML, but ended up staying in AML because of people retiring, moving to other squads, etc. Their roster is by no means even close to last season's strenght, but it'll still be quite enough to go far in AML. Belt is a good pilot, Ethan_Hunt has played some good games in the past, QA Man was a solid pilot back when he played for real... Drug Against War, the best predictor in last season's AML... BlackNike's chances of retaking the AML championship seem slim, but they will win their share of matches.
Prediction: Reaching the playoffs should be easy enough, beyond that it'll be tough.
Ideal starting lineup: QA Man, Belt, Ethan_Hunt, Drug Against War
Blasphemy
Last season: Eliminated in the semi-finals by the champion, BlackNike. Finished regular season with a 4-1 record, losing only to their rival squad, No Data.
No roster listed yet. Blasphemy has lost some players and I'm not ready to predict their season until I see a solid roster.
Prediction: NONE (yet)
Ideal starting lineup: (insert playernames here)
BUNNER
Last season: Eliminated in round two of the playoffs with a 4-12 loss to Blasphemy. Finished regular season with a suprising 4-1 record.
Well, BUNNER hasn't weakened, they're up with pretty much the same roster as last season. Season 7 was a suprising rise to glory for the classic AML squad and things can get better this season. The slightly weaker league opens up the gates to deep playoff space for BUNNER and this season they might even have a shot at the ultimate AML championship... in reality, I doubt that'll happen and a couple of rounds in to the playoffs is the maximum effort they can pull.
Prediction: Playoffs should be easy to reach, after that maybe a couple of rounds in.
Ideal starting lineup: Buttoch, a big newbie, Chiefjoi, d i g i
Dark Saint
Last season: Didn't play AML.
No roster up yet, no prediction.
Prediction: NONE
Ideal starting lineup: (insert playernames here)
Dissent
Last season: Reached the playoffs with a solid season, beat Warlords in round one and then lost to Idiosyncrasy.
Dissent has supposedly asked for a transfer up to IML which is still pending. I'll review their chances in this season's AML, if they end up playing here... Probably one of the stronger squads in this season's AML, the squad's packed with experienced players such as Miner, hedcase8, Addiction King, Aggro and Guardian. The Genocide has also joined the squad after being a Assassins-mascot for the last season. Dissent's possible success in AML depends greatly on their activity as a squad.
Prediction: Deep in the playoffs.
Ideal starting lineup: hedcase8, Miner, The Genocide, Entertainment
EpiK
Last season: A playoff spot clinched by being third in their division after No Data and Blasphemy, eliminated in playoff round one by BUNNER.
EpiK was a disappointment last season. One of the oldest surviving squads ended up being eliminated in playoff round one and a lot has changed since the Pro glory days of the squad. Now for the good news, the squad has remained pretty much the same as last season, Zilla returned to Birds of Prey, but that's pretty much it. The squad's now ten players strong, a fairly good amount if most of them stay active throughout the season. The squad has several 'decent' players, but no real star players who could win the big matches for them and that'll be a problem. They'll end up making the playoffs like last season, but not much besides that.
Prediction: A playoff round one exit is probable this season too.
Ideal starting lineup: jimbobwey, RichterScale, Demi God, passplay
Exodus
Last season: A 0-5 season with 12 kills scored, finishing last in Pisces division.
Exodus, they played Euro league, United league and now...Amateur league, all with varying success. Last season was a huge disappointment for the Chaos squad, a 0-5 season and a careless attitude. They're back with basically the same roster with a couple of tweaks, and to tell you the truth, they can't expect to be more succesfull than what they were last season. They aren't even being active in Chaos, how would they win any matches here?
Prediction: Probably a quick 0-5 and good night.
Ideal starting lineup: AC, Cyborg of Death, Dark Storm, BD-Agger
Ferrum
Last season: Clinched a playoff spot in their last regular season match against Birds of Prey. Eliminated in playoff round one by No Data.
Basically the same squad with a couple of additions. LuRp (Nightwatch) is a mentionable recruit. Misterio, Miasaka and Syntech are decent pilots, Don Cherry has gone down from decent to bad during last season. Ferrum can now look openly to this season, as the whole league is slightly weaker and a long playoff run is possible this season.
Prediction: A couple of rounds in to the playoffs.
Ideal starting lineup: Misterio, Miasaka, LuRp, Gunstar
Fly-Ndeath
Last season: A miserable 0-5, the weakest squad in the league with a 6-60 k/d.
A renewed roster is Fly-Ndeath's new weapon to this season. I have to admit, that I don't really know a single name from the roster, so I should probably stop commenting right here.
Prediction: Will miss out on the playoffs. A win or two are possible.
Ideal starting lineup: No idea.
Idiosyncrasy
Last season: A real black horse and they came really close of winning the AML title. Eventually BlackNike won in the final.
Well, Idiosyncrasy might be moving up to IML, but I'll consider them as a AML squad for this little review... Some players lost, some new ones gained. Sea is the most notable recruit, he's been to several big squads in the past and has Pro experience. Idiosyncrasy has a strong starting lineup but their bench is thin, that might become a problem in the long run.
Prediction: If in AML, deep in the playoffs.
Ideal starting lineup: Sea, KraziKarl, Cordite., Scheme
Integral
Last season: Some big victories and some big disappointments. No playoffs.
No roster listed yet.
Prediction: NONE
Ideal starting lineup: (insert playernames here)
Llamasery
Last season: Playoffs and then a first round exit.
Some changes to the Llamasery roster. The squad's now 11 players strong and a notable addition is Kuan Yu, who now tries to alias as Tomatoes. Nechronos is a solid player who's deeply diseased with the infamous lag-illness. Razar, StormKat and Crunchy are decent pilots. Llamasery should be able to make the playoffs if they field their best.
Prediction: Playoffs. Maybe even second round...probably not though.
Ideal starting lineup: Nechronos, Crunchy, Razar, Tomatoes
Mutiny
Last season: Lost to Oracle X in the playoffs. First round, I believe.
A renewed roster is leading Mutiny in to a new season. DEATHBED from Idiosyncrasy has taken the captaincy of the squad. KillDawg, Geneva and cdb! are the notable remaining players from last season. skysthelimit is a new recruit from Prevail/Birds of Prey. The squad's clear weakness is the roster size of seven...knowing Mutiny, some heavy recruiting will be done before the season's over.
Prediction: Playoffs.
Ideal starting lineup: Geneva, DEATHBED, KillDawg, cdb!
No Data
Last season: After a solid 5-0 regular season, No Data beat Ferrum in the playoffs and then lost a close match to BlackNike, the squad that won the championship.
I'll quote DAW's words: "They're due." as I told him that my favourite for this season's AML champion is No Data. I've heard rumours of borAX not playing too much this season and that is a definite setback for No Data. borAX is the force behind No Data's attacking power along with Tin Cup...speaking of Tin Cup, he's a good player. Cose has been practicing lately, Nerve Impulse and sKink are two dangerous players, although sKink's last season was a disappointement to me. Zeromus had a decent last season, but he can probably do better too with all that Pro experience. Dark^sword appears to be the only visible loss from last season. That guy really took advantage of his big latency. Although No Data looks strong on paper, they still hold a huge choke potential, which was shown to the limit by Tin Cup in last season's playoffs. Still, No Data are my favourites for the AML Championship this season. Don't let me down.
Prediction: The championship favourite in my book.
Ideal starting lineup: Tin Cup, Nerve Impulse, Zeromus, cose
StarFire Elite
Last season: Lost to Oracle X in playoff round two with a score of 6-8.
My own squad. I won't write a clean prediction for this one, but I'd like to note that I'm anxiously looking forward to this season. We have some good potential recruits for this season and our last season's roster has remained intact. Spec some of StarFire's matches to decide for yourself.
Prediction: Mauler will not play a deathless season.
Ideal starting lineup: Me and three of my squaddies, of course.
Starseed
Last season: 5-0 in regular season, round one playoff exit with a loss to Idiosyncrasy.
Pretty much dead and buried.
Prediction: NONE
Ideal starting lineup: (insert playernames here)
Victimise
Last season: Eliminated on the regular season with a 1-4 record.
Some new faces are trenghtening the Victimise squad this season. Fearer from Blasphemy, Wasty from Harness and...a lot of pilots I've never heard of. I saw slab and Mikhail play tonight and they seemed quite good. With the league looking slightly weaker than last season, Victimise will probably make the playoffs. Beyond that it's all based on luck.
Prediction: Round one in the playoffs.
Ideal starting lineup: Fearer, aPathy*, slab, Vorbis
Warlords
Last season: Made it to round one of the playoffs and lost 4-12 to Dissent.
Warlords saved a part of their honour by reaching the playoffs. It was certain long before the playoffs began that Warlords wouldn't make it past round one in the playoffs and so it happened. I for one would like to see Warlords return to their old glory, but it does seem that they do not have the roster to accomplish that. Tarnished Silver, Bad-News, Royal, decent players but nothing to write home about. A playoff spot should be within reach, but beyond that...
Prediction: Round one in the playoffs.
Ideal starting lineup: Bad-News, Bearded Dragon, Tarnished Silver, Royal
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