We're back!
Well, we'll be back soon. Hold thine shit together, young grasshoppers. We'll be back in full swing very, very soon, better than ever.
Once again I'd like to thank all of the participating teams (Yes, even you Corvus) from Season 1 for their participation in what was pretty clearly a trial season. With constant graphical errors and virtually no advance warning for some pretty game-changing elements, it was a tough season for the teams that got caught up in the maelstrom of format changes and shoddy decision-making. So on behalf of all of us who casted, reffed and spectated those matches and enjoyed them so much: Thank you. You put on a great show and with Season 1 behind us, I plan to learn from my mistakes and make Season 2 far, far better than our first attempt. if nothing else, we have a format now!
You can check the updated rules post for more info if you're interested in the format... But for those of you returning from Season 1, things will seem VERY similar. But enough about all that, let's get to the good stuff.
The Time
The Cogs will be returning with Week 0 on the 22nd of June, at 4pm EST. Same time, same event. You missed us, admit it.
The Seeds
Seeded from the Finale of Season 1, four teams have earned the right to start at the very top of Season 2 in the Champion and Challenger Cogs. Let's take a look.
The Paddling
The Grand Champions of Season 1, The Paddling are easily the most successful team from the previous seasons, racking up an incredible undefeated record of 10-0 in their official Cogs matches. Having retained their roost at the very top in the Champion's Cog, they're looking to face some serious competition both from their old Season 1 rivals as well as the multitude of fresh, talented teams who have burst up and thrived during the break. Of course, the question on all our minds is, "Can they do it again?", "Can someone FINALLY beat the fucking Ducks?!". Who knows? It's going to be a fun season either way though.
The Brood
Yet more Ducks, The Brood started off as the third Ducks team during the halfway mark of Season 2 and quickly proved themselves as a serious threat to their cousin teams, knocking out sister team The Raft to force their way into The Cogs. While they didn't have much luck with the rotations, dropping their second advancement match to the Challenger Cogs to The Gentlemen, they didn't give up and fought their way through Week 8 to advance all the way to the Grand Finals... And though they couldn't quite bring themselves to smack down the motherduck, they gave it their all and earned a solid second place... The question is, can they hold onto their spot in Challenger and keep up the pressure. Can the ducks beat the ducks?
The Pastafarians
Be honest, how many of you expected PaFa to do what they did to Polaris? The current undisputed kings of the Labyrinth, PaFa are one of the few competitive teams to manage to both claim and reclaim the central point of Labyrinth, which is not easy at all against some of the moonshine-swigging speed junkies that participate in The Cogs, trust me on that one. A solid team that hovered between Upcomer and Challenger during Season 1, always just shy of a true threat, they've been steadily improving ever since they proved themselves a worthy opponent as the first team to win two of their three advancement matches, running straight from Newcomer to Challenger in as many weeks. With a whole lotta potential and more than a few hours of practice under their belts, PaFa have earned their spot as the 3st place runner-up of the Season 1 Finale. Here's hoping they make better use of their chance at the top this time around!
Polaris Company
The Russians. The juggernauts hailing from all across the eastern bloc, back with a vengeance. With one of the strongest showings of all of the Challenger teams last season, Polaris earned the final Challenger spot in the Finale despite a run of terrible luck during the finals. Despite soundly beating underdogs Black Flight Squadron in their opening match, they dropped their next two matches to the rising stars The Brood and the giant-killers PaFa to emerge with a disappointing fourth place finish. With a chance to up their game and improve their standing to prove themselves once again as a dominant force in The Cogs, I'm excited to see the redemption of the eastern giants as they throw down against the best of the best in Season 2.
In addition to our returning champions and their close rivals, we'll also be seeing the quarter finalists from the Finale of Season 1 duking it out in a three-way round robin during Week 0 to determine their seeding order into the Upcomer's Cog. More info on that in the official Week 0 posting... But expect to see hell raised as Merry Northern Storm, The Gentlemen and Black Flight Squadron clash to earn another shot at the Challenger's Cog during Week 1. With the remaining quarter-final teams getting locked into the Upcomer's rotation for the first three or four weeks of The Cogs, there's a lot on the line for all three teams!
Staff Call!
That's right, we're looking for willing players to help out with The Cogs. As a community event, it's fairly clear that we've been relying a bit too much on Muse... Which during Season 1 wasn't such a big deal since they were basking in the glorious glow of post-release. With the devs locked up in crunch to bring up Adventure Mode in all it's magnificence and glory, however, it's unfair and more than a little selfish to ask them to help out with The Cogs. Everything else aside, the competitive nature, the rage, tears and hatred surrounding the one-chance nature of the event and so on, it's still a community event... And who better to ask for assistance than the Community? Here's what we're after.
Graphic Design
It's been said several times before, (Thank you Helmic!) but my designs for the team cards, bracket previews and other visual elements aren't the best. Little more than boxes with text in them, we can do better for Season 2. To that end, I'm inviting all would-be designers to contact me to add a little jazz hands to our display. Idealy I'd love to include animated elements for the stream too, but that's probably going a bit far.
Casters
One thing's became clear during Season 1... I get sick. A lot. You could hear it in a few of the earlier weeks and it was both off-putting and outright disgusting in some places... Though I don't think I did much sniffing. I am far too disciplined for tha- I did? Shit.
Either way, it can't hurt to have a rotating set of casters to stream the Cogs events to mitigate potential issues such as a sniffy caster. If you think you've got what it takes to watch some airships bump up against one another and then fall out of the sky while making fun of the whole situation, feel free to add me and we'll see how good you actually are. Who knows, you might even end up replacing me. Imagine that!
Audio Engineering/Scoring
During Season 1 you may have noticed that we relied quite heavily on music during the intro to disguise the fact that we were still assembling everything and everyone even after the stream had started... And while that was fine for the first season, I'd like things to be a little more professional this time around. What we're looking for this time is someone capable of putting together a few understated tracks to improve the quality of the stream... A 30 second light countdown piece for loading screens, or a semi-relaxed loop to run quietly in the background before or during matches. Stuff that sounds simple when I say it, but is really, really not. If you think you can add another layer entirely to the streams, get in touch!
Referees
Last season's ref pool consisted of ATeddyBear for the first half and Keyvias for the second half. Not a huge, reliable pool, but we made it work when we could... And when we couldn't, I ended up reffing while commentating and organising. That didn't go so well. This time around, I'd like to invite members of the community to get involved. Want to oversee Cogs matches, come up with funny passwords and set up rooms? No? Well... Why would you...? Willing to help out anyway? Good, get in touch!
"Other"
Got an idea to improve the event or the stream that you can help with? Perhaps you think that the casters would sound better with yodelling played on a loop while they analyse results post-match and you just happen to be an amateur yodelee? Or maybe you think that I should stop writing these huge posts because I'm so bad at it and you'd rather do it yourself? Well... I'll probably e-slap you for saying either, but it never hurts to share your opinions... So get in touch and tell me what you think we need... Who knows, I might actually agree.
Final Words
We're back! Stay tuned for the updated rules post, the Season 2 newcomer signup thread and the Week 0 preview. Ooh, this is gonna be fun. I can't wait.
Have I forgotten anything important? Of course I have, but I don't yet know it. if there's anything obvious missing from this post, be sure to leave a comment about it. I know some of you adore pointing out my mistakes and I certainly appreciate the help... Most of the time.
Well, that's it until the Week 0 announcement on the 15th. Stay safe and good luck.
-Swallow
