As the summer season draws near, one of the most important questions is, what maps will be put in place? While the task of setting up the schedule is assigned solely to our fellow commish Ralphis, let's talk about what maps you think will be played this season, shall we? Here are the maps played in previous seasons, including homefields, for reference.
S2014 Maps: MAP04, MAP06, MAP07, MAP08, MAP17, MAP20, MAP24, MAP28
W2015 Maps: MAP20, MAP22, MAP23, MAP24, MAP29, MAP31
Predictions:
The Winter season saw a plethora of very popular and fairly recent maps that have had lots of tournament play beforehand, although there wasn't much variety in the map choices, save for the new addition MAP23. For this Summer season, I predict the schedule choices might be more oriented towards older, but still generally appreciated maps.
MAP01 - Fortress Collision (ZDCTF01): Despite its status as part of the classic pub triad (01, 04 and 08), this well-known map has seen zero play time in the league. We might just see it in the schedule for the first time now, probably in the second or third week of the regular season.
MAP03 - Exophase (ZDCTF03): This once popular map, also coming from the ZDCTF line-up, hasn't seem much tournament play at all for the past 3 years, at least. While its odds of making an appearance in this season are still not that great, it could still sneak in as a possible late-season intellectual map (a week 4 choice, most likely) or even as a Championship map. That is, if the finals' format doesn't change... Whoops, did I say that out loud? :P
MAP09 - Something Epic II (ODACTF02): Even after the IDL board removed this map from their official mapset, the WDL continued to keep it in the list. As the WDL's own CTF metagame has evolved so much last season, it won't be too much of a stretch to think it would be the right time to tackle on this beast of a map. In my opinion, this map can be played a lot more aggressively than the average priv team does it, in case turtling it out does not suit your fancy. Not to mention it has seen even less tournament play than the aforementioned maps for over half a decade! It could work out as the usual last week grind map.
MAP19 - Collision (IDLCONT11-20): A solid map that has been under the radar for a good while. A likely safe bet for weeks 3 or 4, given its all-around nature.
MAP28 - Isolation (CHAOSCORE11): I've noticed this map has been trendy as of late, so I wouldn't be surprised if it found its way into week 2 or something.
MAP29 - Toxic Refineries (ZDECTF2-19): Last season has seen its fair share of very heated games in this map, so it might have another run this season! No idea where in the season it would fit though.
More predictions are more than welcome.
