I will be posting shortly time/date for our Week 1 makeup match. Kudos to "t3-Hotn3ss-uNiTy-" for communication skills in setting up everything, unlike our first team.

Everyone here probably knows our Week 1 was sort of anti-climatic, being in that the opposing team was unable to play us.

We will be posting our make up schedule for week 1 shortly.

In other news for Week 2, it will be Blood Harvest! So start focusing on that campaign, especially in versus play. Our weakest point seems to be human play, so let's concentrate on that - start as human not infected!

This week starts the first ever CAL 4v4 Left 4 Dead competitive ladder. We'll receive our opponent Thursday evening, and be playing them (ideally) at 9pm PST Sunday.

As our players know, we're prone to causing massive rage-quit (at a near cosmic level) on public servers, but tend to do ... not so much ... on actual matches.

After speaking with, and my own personal reviews (Decaf), I'd like members to work on the following:

= Humans =
- Molotovs are extremely useful against a wide variety of infected, not just tanks. However, remember that Tier 2 weapons in close proximity can kill a tank in about 10 seconds. Think twice about using a molotov where it would cause minimal help, but possibly burn teammates.

- Pipe Bombs ...
Use them. Too often do we hold onto items. Pipe Bombs are usually fairly plentiful on maps (well, maybe not NM 4) and should be used whenever a tough event or situation presents itself.

- Trek ahead
It's important to watch behind for potential ambushes, but remember that most infected attacks are going to happen from the sides or above you. Rarely is it smart for an infected player to attack from behind, so it's more important to push forward as a single unit than watch for the occasional hunter or smoker.

- Leave them in the dust
Hunters can get through the level impossibly fast. However, Smokers and Boomers walk relatively slow, and have no innate ability to get from place to place (exception is climbing, and on some levels, like NM3, this is nerfed in some areas).

Instead of going back to kill a smoker or a boomer who botched his vomit... leave him. He will have an impossible time catching up, and you could be smoker or boomer free for a good portion of the level if you successfully evade him

= Infected =

Coordinate

In public servers, often one or two infected striking will cause epic damage. Why? They are uncoordinated, solo-thinking, and often, noobs. A coordinated CAL team will be ready for anything anywhere, and simple attacks will be all but useless.

The corner stone of any infected attack is the Boomer. A boomed team, Ventrilo or not, will have a much harder time helping his team mates or getting into position.

We tend to waste smokers also. Getting 5 damage in per smoker spawn is not only useless, but stupid. When is it best to use a smoker?

* Rooftops: You have the best chance of staying alive when you are above the survivors.

* In combination with hunters or boomers: Rarely (in matches, never) will a smoker be able to sustain meaningful damage to a human player. (Exception is pulling them off buildings, noted next). However, pulling a survivor will cause one or more to come to his aid. Jump on them, boom them - this is when they are most distracted and apt to mistakes.s

In general, the goal of each infected player should be to cause as much damage, or slow down the opponents as much as possible. A single hunter causing 5 damage is useless.

The best move would to be is coordinate ALL attacks. This isn't pub, you have the option of delaying spawns and coordinate attacks wherever you please. So use it.

</rant>

Oh, and try to attend as many practices as possible this week. Ideally at least 3x a player.

It seems like the team for week 1 will not be responding today. In light of this event, I'm asking all players (on-roster or not) to start practicing Blood Harvest.

If you aren't comfortable with the level, please run through it in Normal campaign (or even Versus) until you can navigate the whole campaign comfortably.

We will have a few night-time practice events (Campaign runs, Versus, and Scrims) this week.

We have decided to enroll in the first season of CAL L4D. Only 8 players on roster is allowed. Please contact me (Decaf) if you are interested.