CAL-Intermediate Season VIII Quarterly Review
By Adam ”b a s i c” Struthers

There seems to be a lack of talent this season, with only 1 standout team and there is still little known through the community about them. This is probably due to the decline of players since the official death of 1.3 close to a year ago. As the community bounces back at the sight of CPL we will once again see emerging talent from the depths of cal-o and have something to work with. Until then we can only hope for these Intermediate teams to keep practicing and getting better. Only 4 matches have been played, and for the most part teams have only played a few of those due to forfeits and or move downs. From there we only have 4 or 5 strong teams looking to sail through mid-season. These include but are not limited to Aristocracy, New Friends!, real lyfe, Remixed, and Super Clan. It seems most of the veteran teams are off to a poor start at best, with records like 2-2 and 1-3. The addition of team perception for week 5 looks promising. They have solid intermediate players from notable teams such as Military Police ( mcNee and xpt ) and ZeroEthix ( Quickscope .) Although they wanted to stay for the cal-open win they were moved up without consent. Some of these teams are on to a great start while some got the wrong end of the scheduler. This looks to be an exciting mid season coming up and look for many of these teams to change their act. Teams to watch: Remixed, Mean and Malicious Mercenaries, Super Clan, and Aristocracy.

Conference: Atlantic

Division: Delta Upper (1-8)

Delta division has the most teams and is by far the most talented. Cal has decided not to divide teams up into 4 divisions like they normally do, instead they will choose teams for post season from 2 enormous divisions. The upper half of this division is Cal-open move ups such as the finalist Super Clan and the undefeated real lyfe team with a 7-0 record and defeated in playoffs. Only 2 veteran teams stand in this upper part of Delta, Zeroethics and Good4Nothing with Remixed being an exception. Zeroethics has been around for a few seasons. Despite the majority of their core players leaving they still have some of their older players set on the roster. Look for them to have a great mid-season with them getting a bad luck draw playing Remixed as their second match in im. Good4Nothing is a cal-main move down with some talent. Notable players from this team are the German player Ptk and the Canadian player LiLFrenchie. I can see why Remixed has reformed and aliases to play in lower caleague divisions. They play for fun and do not want to be burdened with the stress of playing other top-tier teams. Notable players from this team are bleargh from check 6. This team has an unstoppable roster, which I am unsure of.

Teams to watch: Remixed, ZeroEthics, and Super Clan.

Division: Delta Lower (9-16)

This part of the division is full of pub teams, terrible teams, and move ups with the exception of one, Mean and Malicious Mercenaries. The Phantom Team and Llamas on drugs are pub teams with 1-3 and 1-2 records. Instead of scrimming they will pub to increase their skill, which in fact will detract from their skill. Look for both of these teams to fizzle during this hectic mid-season run. Homies and Aimless.dod are both South American teams. These teams love to practice and have individual players to watch but are in way a solid team. Their pings and time restrictions will cause them to spiral downwards as the season progresses. The last section of teams in this lower part of the division are the move ups. You have team perception and special air forces. Team perception looks quite promising and may have a good mid season. They have pretty solid players and are willing to pick up some new ones with the prospect of moving into intermediate. Special Air Services have been around as long as I can remember. They have had notable players throughout the years. This team sees the return of players like Maddox, B-Nine, and Druuna. If they can dominate like they have before, watch them do well this season. The exception of this lower division is MMM. It seems they have no luck with the scheduler this time. They played a cal-I reform their first week and then were scheduled against an inactive team on week 2. This team has tremendous skill with Pinkius from global. If this team can get scheduled against some fair opponents look for them to make their way back up to the top of the Delta Division.

Teams to watch: Perception, SAS, and Mx3

Conference: Central

Division: Delta Upper (1-6)

This division has fewer teams but not much less talent. Aristocracy is leading the pack with a perfect 3-0 start over the veteran team Elite DI and some pub teams. New Friends would have a perfect 4-0 record to top that of Aristocracy but they had a devastating loss to the Cal-main move up Fx in week 2. They are a loss shy of first place and their new talent is looking to overtake the win for this central conference. The third place team So Def was beaten in week one by Super Clan and has beaten a move down and an inactive since. The real meat here is these middle tier teams here. Osk, Elite DI, and Deadbolt are all veteran teams entering another season of Cal. They really havent shown anything yet and are still unsure of their rosters. Once they settle down and move into mid season, look for them to regain composure and move back to the top of this division.

Teams to watch: Aristocracy, New Friends, and Osk.

Division: Delta Lower (7-12)

Like the other lower part of delta this one contains bad teams, move ups, and a team that just isn’t where it should be. The 606th firebats are a recent cal-open move up and are just there to fill empty slots. I don’t see much out of this team as they have not played any intermediate teams and are in last position for a reason. The other move up is Team Underrated which is the lower half of the division leaders Super Clan. This team is comprised of the non-starters for Super. I don’t see this team being a contender for post season as they will be cheering on the rest of their team. Antivirus with known players such as SuperScott and Meerkat are 2-1 and leading this Lower part of Central Delta. This team has had bad luck with the scheduler losing badly in week one to a move up and playing inactive teams since then. They have yet to report their week 4 match and thus delaying the schedules for intermediate. Handicapped is a very young team with some talent but their 1-3 record with losses to Elite DI and Super Clan has placed them poorly. If they can get on their game they have a chance to break even during mid-season. Railsplitter’s are having bad luck this season losing badly week 1 and only beating 1 team since. As a cal-main move down I would expect them to be running this division, but it is not the case.

Teams to watch: Antivirus