MLG H3 Rosters Still Going Bananas

The MLG front office has put an embargo on several blogs from players involved in this past week’s fuster cluck of roster moves.  Ogre 1, Neighbor and TSquared are usually pretty good about writing blogs after events, and Ogre 1 has a blog submitted that’s waiting for aproval.

That being said, there are some more developments.  As some keen B-Net observers noticed a new tag possibly associated to Neighbor who’s been running MLG playlist games with members of Final Boss.  Major League Gaming officially announced the worst kept secret in the league this afternoon when Neighbor officially filed for free agency and then immediately was signed by Final Boss.

A less publicized move, but one that’s still raising eyebrows is Mackeo joining up with former rivals Triggers Down.  Earlier this season a tD Mackeo tag would have been a joke as Mackeo and TD had major beef.  But as they say, “politics makes strange bedfellows”.  

In a less dramatic, but still very important move, Str8’s coach XXX (AKA: Triple X) announced via the MLGpro message board that he is now coaching Instinct.  Trips was kind enough to give us his coaching resume in the post: 1 time MLG Halo Champion (2006), 1 time MLG Halo 2nd place (2007), 1 time MLG Shadowrun Champion (2007).  7 total tournament wins for 3 teams as a coach.  He’s beginning to get a reputation as a coach who can turn a top 4 team into a top team.

This finally solidifies the top 4 teams for Toronto:
Str8 Rippin – TSquared, Elamite Warrior, Legit & Snypedown
Triggers Down – SK, FearItSelf, Hysteria & Mackeo
Final Boss – Ogre 1, Ogre 2, Strong Side & Neighbor
Instinct – Roy, Lunchbox, Walshy & Soviet
(new players in bold)

This whole thing feels like baseball at the trade deadline where the top teams are trying to improve for the stretch run.  All these roster moves means that Toronto will be dripping with story, and really put the focus on Major League Gaming.  I haven’t ever heard this much MLG chatter this far out from a tournament before.

The problem is all the confusion over passports.  The MLG site is stating definitively that everyone needs a passport to cross into Canada, however, there seems to be some contradictory information floating around the message boards.

Meanwhile, while Major League Gaming is putting on their Young and the Restless mask, Evo 2k8 is ramping up.  This weekend the Evo Europe qualifiers take place at the Battle of Destiny.  Last weekend was Evo South America in Brazil.  This week Evo announced that they’ll have several new releases for exhibit as side games.  They include: Street Fighter 2HD, Street Fighter 4, BluBlaze and Tatsunoku vs Capcom.

I have a feeling 2008 and 2009 are going to be good years to be 2D fighting fans.

(edited @ 12:45: added information regarding XXX joining Instinct)

MLG Toronto

My new business partner, who calls himself the Messiah of the Backbreaker, called me up last night and asked if I was interested in making a little road trip to North Buffalo for a little Halo LAN.  So August 22-24 I’ll be in the Great White North with a couple hundred of my close friends watching the most hyped Halo tournament in MLG history.

I’m also considering changing my handle.  I’ve been using Paulie Danger as a go-by for years.  Before I was Danger, I used SARS, and my first (or the earliest handle I remember) is Digital Monk (AKA: DigiMo).  But I think when I get back on XBL I’ll be changing my handle to The Apostle (AKA: St. Paul).

I’ve even got my logo, courtesy of the St. Paul Saints baseball club:

And yes, I have two StP hats in the mail.  But it’s okay, I’m not a poser because I’m actually a fan of indy baseball, and the Saints are usually a good team.