General News
End of a Season : Beginning of Something New
Arthur Kane
May 11, 2002
Season 519 Wrap-up...
It was a great season, with lots of excitement. When it all began, who would have imagined that MRC would give PHS such a close run for its money? Who would have imagined that a bottom-dwelling rookie team of Canadians, who many suggested would be the next Disengaged, could turn around its season and put forth a very respectable rookie season? And who would have imagined Atrebla making it into the final battle for the TDL Cup?
When 519 closed the books, some new records had been set, and a few remained intact. Let's take a moment to review a few of the season's highlights:
New Records
Avery Shiv Blade set the record for most regular season wins in a row, with a phenonemal 18 wins. His only loss in 519 was to his wife, Casey. Expect it to be a long time before anyone breaks this record.
Arcarius Took becomes the first duelist to end the season in the Top 5 MPDPD Leaders and have fought all of his duels as a Free Agent!
Records that Survived
Unforgiving retain their title as the team with the highest Season Point total for a single (14 week) season with 102 points. For a while it looked like the Phantom Scots were on the path to easily break the record, but a surprise Week 13 loss to the Misfits & Rogues halted them in their tracks.
Previously TDL Insider announced a set of Regular Season Awards and we have a few to add to that list including:
Best Captain
A tie between G'nort Dragoon-Talanador (CDR) and Gloria Blaze (ATR) who both captained teams that had never been to the final match before. Both captained teams that hail back to TDL's charter season. Strong captaining got their teams through the season and into the grand finalé.
Best Rookie Captain
Anne Ellis (GWN) brought in a rookie team, the Great White North, which had an embarrassing 0-7 record at the All Star Break. Many predicted GWN would be the next Disengaged and the derision was high. But captain Ellis made significant changes in week 7 that turned around the team's season, not only bringing them out of the cellar, but winning five out of seven matches in the season's second half. If that's not an example of good captaining, I don't know what is.
Best Rookie Performance - Team
Restless Dead were a rookie team that many (unaccountably) predicted would perform well at the season's outset. While they struggled in the first half of the season with a grueling five week road trip, steady performance earned them a 7-7 record for the season which landed them in the top half (8th) of the League (in Season Points) and made them the leader among rookie teams for 519. A strong performance for a team that started the season with a roster of all Rookies.
And finally...
Most Valuable Playoff Duelist
Phantom (CDR) was quite simply on fire during the playoffs. Winning in all three of his duels, and winning two of those with shut-outs, his performance was undisputably the strongest in the playoffs.
...And For Something New
One might think it was time to put away the swords and the strategy books and move on to other things until it's time to begin the next season, but on the heels of 519, the TDL opens a beta trial of a new idea that is really an old idea.
For those that can remember that far back, the original concept for TDL was a team-based league (as it is now) but with Unarmed and Arcane duels in addition to the Armed ones.
With the opening of the World League beta, the TDL gets back to its original concept. It will be interesting to see how the inclusion of spells and bare-knuckle brawling will affect the league, and whether new teams might come out of the woodwork to be the next Unforgiving, Phantom Scots, Bladesingers or Champions of Avalon.
The beta begins with four teams crossing over from regular TDL, and four new teams. It's anyone's guess which teams will do well, but, based upon their pedigree, TDL Insider expects Team Fist to do well. We'll be keeping our eye on them as well as all the other teams taking part in the beta.
Good luck, and good dueling to all the teams in the World League beta!
Arthur Kane
Editor-in-Chief
TDL Insider
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