Welcome ladies and gentlemen, Welcome ladies and gentlemen; Spies and Soldiers, to the sixteenth season of UGC's Highlander league. Platinum has gone through some significant changes recently, both from behind the scenes and the community aspect. Out of fourteen teams that participated in Platinum last season, only five returned. This is no small part due to the reworking of Platinum to be a round robin with ten teams. An additional week will be added to the end of the season for Platinum alone. There is also a sharper cutoff for playoffs this season: four teams. This means that the playoff gauntlet for Platinum will be a week shorter.

The team lineup isn't the only thing that's changed: the maplist has also gone through a group that perhaps can't decide what it wants, resulting in maps being removed and others added. We bid adieu to maps like Swiftwater and Sunshine, if at least temporarily, and find ourselves hosting old Gullywash, new Glassworks, and improved Badwater Pro. There's also Lakeside I guess.

The Teams

As with any new season, these estimates are largely speculation. Some roster changes may even still be up in the air. Teams that look solid end up cracking before the season's out. And sometimes teams just flat out disband. These rankings should hopefully be as accurate as possible, solely from an estimation point of view. It's impossible to know or even plan for everything, but going off of names, previous history and even scrims to an extent tends to result in a fairly accurate list.

Kids Next Door

If there's any placement that is difficult to debate, it's knd's. They've gotten a practically unprecedented back-to-back 1st place finish, and could find themselves with a third come August. They've changed their roster only slightly, with the Soda Popper legend Ibby no longer starting, picking up former bote leader Corsa, to Scout. While it's entirely possible that as a young child, Corsa defiled an ancient Indian burial ground and as such is doomed to never have a Platinum placement medal, until the voodoo doctors get back to me on that, we'll go with no. Whispers in the alley of 'HL froyo' are already circulating, but there's certainly enough to be skeptical of such claims. Another fantastic season should no doubt be on its way for Kids Next Door, the main question will be if they're truly so far ahead of the competition as their 6s counterpart, Froyotech.

Menace To Society

The 'perennial' top Plat team, mTs is no stranger to second place. Known for a mentality of not caring until playoffs, it'll be interesting to see if mTs continues that train of thought despite a smaller playoffs and a large amount of teams who could certainly take a spot with the proper effort. Even if they believe a spot to be practically guaranteed for them, a lax mTs should still be no pushover, upholding a standard expected of teams their caliber throughout rosters and seasons. Some may claim that Sheep's lack of recent competitive play and Lunacide's 54 hours on Heavy indicate that mTs may have some shaky pillars, but if everyone expect mTs to be a weaker team overall as a result, then the world may be in for a rude surprise.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

In what may be an amusing connection to the team's name, Dunning Kruger takes the third spot over the much-hyped Ginyu Hoops mainly due to the confidence the team has. Rumor has it that Ginyu Hoops may not be a fully committed force, as they were back in older times. But this is the overview for dK, not Ginyu, and there's much to talk about. The basic core of dK: Aegis, Xan, Karl, Josh, Metawe, and Axiomatic return. Smoothing out their roster is Spyro on Pyro, b4nny on Scout and Rainy on Spy. b4nny makes the switch to Scout once again, but this time in Highlander, meaning his competitive playtime won't be split between two classes any more. Assuming Xan's mental state doesn't deteriorate as a result of playing a class he doesn't enjoy, dK should have little trouble throughout the season, and all while enjoying the ride.

Ginyu Hoops

Max and stabby return to Platinum once again. And they've brought some friends along for the trip. The only two players who had a starting position last season were Skag and Phorofor, the latter's being a short lived stint before being replaced by Karl. There's practically nobody on this team who isn't well known, and all have a reputation as being one of the best. While rumor has it that Ginyu plans to emphasize fun over tryharding, there are some names on this team who it's hard to conceptualize not giving 100%. While most may not have had Highlander recently, they've all had 6s to keep themselves sharp, with the exception of Huey Lewis and Max. Expect within a few weeks for Ginyu to prove where they stand. A Week 1 game against Dunning Kruger certainly expedites the process.

Muma and the Seamen

The boat is pulling out of the dock once again, albeit with a slightly different crew. The flank in general is almost completely new, with Linkuser having technically been a starter last season, though on a different class. The combo is almost identical to last season, though that depends on whether you consider the "bote" of yesteryear to include muma. The team will have no trouble establishing themselves. But roster changes are rarely a step forward from a team perspective, and they'll have to cover lost ground (sea?) quickly.

A Million Ways

Here It Goes Again. A Million Ways has gone though some slight changes, but All Is Not Lost. Overall, the team is solid, although the loss of players like Xan and the change to a smaller Plat means that the team is weaker solely due to the situation changing around them, but This Too Shall Pass. They should Get Over It fairly quickly, and when Week 3 rolls around, Munky will return to Engineer, allowing Digresser to head back to Pyro, and then they can say Bye Bye Baby to Johnny. Whether or not it'll work is another question, but it's A Good Idea at the Time. ·aMw· should be fairly in control of their own destiny this season, it may seem like The Writing's on the Wall, but in reality, with improvement and dedication, ·aMw· should be able to pull off wins that may otherwise seem out of reach for them. But Don't Ask Me, keep an eye on this team. I swear, I Won't Let You Down.

$ilver $avages

In a unique twist on the concept of a gold moveup team, Invader has gathered the best of the best Gold players in Season 15 to make a Gold superteam to participate in Platinum. While none of them have experience in Platinum, none of them will need to be carried. When people talked about the top players in Gold last season, practically every person on this team would come up in conversation naturally. Six out of their nine starters were successful in their bid at All Stars, with Odb nominated for a different class, the one he played that season (Demo), resulting in him facing Invader. Eerie Person, Ferroaffer, and Rolls Royce are all players that immediately come to mind as players who received lots of praise over the season, and that's just those who were wide-spread enough to be easily found on the forums. There should be no doubt about their team's ability to play at a high level, but it's up to them if they can withstand the test of Platinum.

Funkblasters

Funkblasters is a team that were solidly mid-Plat in Season 14, dispersed for the entirety of Season 15, and now are returning together to try their chances once again. Friskily, Valkeri, Cosmic and Ryno form a core of friends that the team is built around, perhaps sometimes not playing on the same teams but being close nonetheless. Seer of Shadows and Artz join them from the burning remains of Tree Forest 2, with Deejay, S4rr, and Lazy all moving up from Gold to complete the team's roster. There should be no reason that they don't have a productive season, as any of the bottom four teams could take wins off of each other on any good day. Funkblasters will probably be one of the quieter teams, at least until they can garner some attention, but that certainly doesn't mean they're just another Platinum team that won't matter much.

Independant Fighters Alliance

The folks at IFA return to Platinum, after a terrible season and intentions to play in Gold. An unfortunate number of teams disbanding meant that only nine teams interested in playing in Platinum could be found, so admins had to go fishing around in Gold to find a team good enough to play in Plat. After discussions with '92 Dream Team's reformed roster, IFA took the plunge and were moved up to Platinum. Their roster doesn't look particularly weak, and while some of their players have little to now Platinum experience, players like Tickzf and Daft Kid are certainly not new to Platinum. If those two can unite the team and have them working cohesively, the team has potential. A smaller Plat means there's even less chances for them to pick up a game, but they're certainly able to take their matches on any of the other bottom four teams on a good day.

eHarmony eSports

eHarmony, despite having been a Platinum team for a while now, have only just gotten nine players, and even then, two are only potentials. While some of the players on the roster have experience in the past in Platinum, a fair bit don't, and that might cause some issues. SpaceGhost'sCoffee is a fantastic Sniper and shouldn't have too much issue going toe to toe with some of Platinum's Snipers. While there may be some players on their team who have yet to play in Platinum, a few weeks should give them ample time to set up, and then we should see their true potential. But until then, this is the team that got 9 barely as the season started, which may give them severe issues.

The Matches

The return of two huge teams to the halls of Platinum get to brawl right out of the gate. Both teams have gone through changes since their last incarnations, but have lost none of the reverence. It's impossible to list stand-out players, as nearly every person on both rosters are downright fantastic. Upward as a map tends to not lend itself to 2-1s, despite individual games being close. Assuming the rumors about Ginyu Hoops are right, it'll be difficult for them to establish upper ground against a dK that's probably the most powerful they've ever been. 2-0 in favor of Dunning Kruger Effect.

IFA sacrifices their own interests to save Platinum, and what do they get? mTs knocking on their door. With all due respect to Zoe and team, there's little they can do to win this. It's certainly a stark difference from mTs's last season, where they faced The Hateful Eight in the first week. In the end though, IFA is a team of friends and shouldn't be hit too bad by the practically inevitable loss. 2-0 in favor of Menace To Society.

A Million Ways is coming into this season with a fair bit of roster changes, with only four classes remaining consistent. Funkblasters, on the other hand, are largely unproven, and hoping to pick up some wins against teams that are within their reach but considered slightly better. Digresser's skill at Engineer will certainly be proven here, as well as Split's ability to play Medic in a match setting. Funkblasters's team is quietly powerful, with plenty of their players being fantastic yet uncelebrated. As so the rumor mill goes, A Million Ways was hurt by the smaller Platinum pool, so a win here would solidify them as in no worse position than last season, but a loss could result in the team reviewing their chances at avoiding consideration for a move down to Gold. 2-1 in favor of A Million Ways.

Corsa finds himself facing his old team immediately, in a match that will more accurately gauge how the roster changes bote went through will affect them. Kids Next Door is no joke of a team, but neither is bote, and if they're looking to improve from last season's conclusion, then no better way than to face last season's victors. If bote wins this, it'll give a fair indicator of bote's likeliness to make playoffs. Overall though, KND is a fantastic team and should be able to win, although it'll be a lot closer than the score entails. 2-0 in favor of Kids Next Door.

While I could focus on how $$ has been scrimming for a while now, and that eHarmony only just pulled together a potential nine, $$ just looks stronger. Both teams will be wanting to establish themselves as legitimate teams right out the gate, and $avages are going to be more likely to pull that off. Hopefully eHarmony can pull something together and set themselves up properly, because there's only so many teams a new Platinum team can hope to win against, and $avages are definitely one of them. 2-0 in favor of $ilver $avages.

Credit to Turbo Cop for editing and writing content.