WE HERE NOW. WE MADE IT. IM somehow surfed the storm of being merged with Open due to low player sign ups and the high fatality rate of existing IM teams from last season. We find ourselves with a division only 16 teams strong with very few teams from last season carrying over, but almost all the Open playoff teams from season 17 have shown up to keep the game alive. Season 18 is unique in that there is such a vacuum of teams from our holiest of holy divisions (and I'm talking about Invite here), and if the right teams can prove their worth this season they could find themselves playing against the top teams in NA not too long from now. However, with so many existing IM teams dead and many teams fresh out of Open, the disparity of skill between even the teams at the top of IM and the bottom of Invite is worse than its ever been. IM has truly become Super Open, but there are still teams in the division that will impress enough to make for a good season and hopefully decent contenders in Invite next season.
Just like all my previews, these teams are not in any particular order (or are they?)
- Soapy
- purpleshirt
- goldfish
- desca
- highfive
- yomps
Cafe Monster finished last season in 7th place at 0-2, after finishing the regular season at 11-5. The off season seems to have been kind to Cafe Monster, as their recent scrims have shown some remarkable improvement. Goldfish is their replacement for Mangachu, which could be an upgrade more because Goldfish is not a very roamy pocket rather than him having better DM than his predecessor. This team has always been very dependent on their soldiers to make a lot of the plays, however, which will put some pressure on Goldfish to go huge pretty consistently. Soapy will be the other half of the combo, a medic with a lot of Open experience, although has not quite finished a complete season in the past 3 seasons. Yomps and Highfive are both pretty solid scouts, although to be honest I think this team was pretty good with Rave on scout, who might see some play time if the team needs a back up. Desca and Purpleshirt will be the people to watch on this team, in my opinion. Desca is a decent demo with strong DM, and doesn't seem to get caught out too much. He used to have really good Steam icons but recent his icons have started to suck. Purpleshirt was getting to be a pretty good roamer at the end of last season, and it looks like he has been getting better. The team is pretty well rounded, to be honest, and should be looking forward to a pretty good season in IM with another shot of being in Invite at the end of season 18.
- jodd
- broKing
- ranga
- Jarrett
- yeeegz
- Cheesy
Meat Market is using the old God Complex roster this season, but the roster looks pretty similar to the original Meat Market roster. Cheesy and Yeeegz are probably the best scout pair in IM at the moment, in just about every way. BroKing returns in a role he has had many seasons on, this time with Jodd at his back. Jodd impressed quite a bit last season on God Complex, and ended up being the strongest medic to play with one of Blueberry's teams as well as one of the better medics in the division last season. Another new face to the Meat Market family, a wild Ranga appears. Ranga has a wealth of experience and is going to be one of the best roamers in IM in season 18, and that’s all I can really say. Without a doubt, Meat Market has 3 great players on the flank capable of some pretty incredible stuff. Jarrett is a player I'm not all that familiar with, but the few times I have seen him play has been pretty okay. Deep down, Zambler will always be the demo of Meat Market in my heart, but we can't all get what we want. You've got some tiny shoes to fill, Jarrett! Lets hope your internet is better than ol' Zambles' dial up modem. Closing thoughts: its almost guaranteed this team will be top 3 this season, but they will still have some close matches I think.
- lucrative
- jaybenaduchi
- hellbent
- pamphlet
- Dance
- Fox
The Open champs have made it through the off season with most of their roster intact, and have been trying to scrim for weeks now. Pamphlet takes the sticky reins with the departure of resident carry and god tier player, Dingo. If scrim results are anything to go by, it looks like the team is adjusting well to their new friend, but the team is suffering a bit with consistency with playing so often without their full 6. Of all the Mad Lux teams, Gold is far and away the best, but my fear for them is that they have become somewhat predictable in their antics. Fox will probably go on sniper at some point after mid, Java will probably take a lot of heals and dish out a lot of damage, and Hellbent will probably jump in and die repeatedly. Adding Pamphlet's tendency to carpet bomb at some of the most random times, this team will make or break themselves on the success of these hero plays. I see this team making playoffs but it remains to be seen if they will have what it takes to make some of that IM cash in the top 3.
- Bereth
- Noble
- Hollow
- Scorp
- Jordan
- Phaze
Subspace has had a streak of finishing in 8th place for the last season, and with their plans of not scrimming this season, I can only assume the tradition will live on. The team has mixed up a bunch of positions with both Dable and Pamphlet leaving the team after playing together for what feels like the beginning of time. While the roster shuffle hasn't been all that profound, it will be cool to see Scorp play demo this season in IM. I have to admit, I'm more pleased to see Scorp hang up the gunboats because it means I get to see Quadaciousfozar (Hollow) in action this season. For whatever reason, I just love watching this kid play. Noble and Scorp may still switch positions if they find it isn't working out as well as they'd hoped, but I just want them to remember one thing: it's fun to try new things! Subspace will probably be in playoffs, and their goal this season should be to not be in 8th place by the end of the post season.
- Skye
- Blew
- ???
- unf
- Gls
- Oobii
Chad has left the building, friends! Sparkle Bunnies future is very questionable at this time, mostly because they still don't have 6 and their commitment to this game is pretty sketchy right now. I want to believe that this team will pull their shit together and make something happen this season. Gls and Oobii are both great scouts and Blew has improved like crazy over the last season. Without Hero, I feel like the direction the team will take might be a little weird and the biggest thing they will need is a main caller. But without a roamer at this time, its impossible to know if this team will even survive the first couple weeks of the season. Godspeed, ladies and gents!
- Kig
- Farns
- Walka
- Rummy
- Corsa
- Dagger
American Jerks had a pretty decent season in Open in S17, surprising a lot of people including myself. These cool kids play a very solid game, and I certainly see them finishing in the top 8 this season. I only watched this team a few times during the post season, and plan on watching them closely. Of all the open move ups they look the most consistent if nothing else. Looking forward to talking more about this team and seeing them grow in this division, although I don't see them challenged except by maybe 5 or so teams. Players to watch: Corsa, Rummy, and Dagger (maybe).
- xattuu
- KTB
- tankman
- mustard
- rooks
- phlps
The Fantazzmagazzlers are one of the only teams to have survived the end of the season storm that ravaged IM; they've emerged minus Dflame, and with tankman stepping aside on demo to bring in the ancient jewish wizard Mustardoverlord. Mustard has finally managed to bring his 5 season hiatus to a close, having last played with Power Rangers in times long past, but whether he's going to have anything to show for his extended departure to highlander is still up in the air. With such a long and decorated history and over 16000 hours of playtime I'd imagine he'll bring some direction to this team that it would be otherwise lacking, but with an assuredly large amount of rust to shake off and a roster largely comprised of faces who've never played at much of a high level it remains to be seen whether anything will come of it. Will mustard try to spawn camp his own team again? Will mustard's team once again fall victim to his sister's bedtime? Stay tuned and find out.
- plobs
- Wrech
- Zigzter
- ???
- monkey fuck
- devon
A lot of people will question this decision to put Goldman Sachs in a preview, but I ask you this: What would IM be like without the Sachs? Don't you remember all the good times you had last season watching this team reach out for the 8th playoff spot and fall just short? Sure, the team is missing all of our favorite personalities: Hooli, Slin, Goldfish... but they've been replaced with new personalities! Like Monkey Suit, the best medic of season whatever. Like it or not, THE SACHS ARE BACK. For a little while under this name at least, in which case I predict Zigzter to leave after the roster has been successfully transferred over and Monkey to name the team something stupid like "4 out of 5 dentists" or something. Good luck finding a demo, boys! There aren't any left this season!
Joining me this season in writing the Match of the Week every week will be Valkeri of N2P fame! While Valkeri may not be a human dictionary like Pangy, I am pleased that he will be assisting me in writing these this season. Also, I will be looking for match highlights for top 8 teams each week, which will be cut and rendered by my good friend kL, aka kalvin “Big Dick” Lei, Keanu Leaves, the Stallion Himself. I am really excited to bring these guys in on this to make these articles more entertaining, because everyone knows I'm not very funny.
Good luck to all the teams this first week, and lets hope the matches don't get delayed by client issues!