Finally hegemony has been dethroned and we actually have a competitive scene, the missing piece of the puzzle? (No not my Quakewars 3rd part, that comes this weekend) But a little thing called school!

Yes, School the place that Idle and Dignitas have taken us all to on how to play the game is the very source of their current demise. Night's exams forced a prolonged period out of the loop for Mr. Clanleader 2006, his return has been compounded by Reloads absence and they've not been able to hit the dizzy heights of Quakecon and CPC1, and their path back to the number 1 spot looks like it may finally be challenging.

Taking a trip back down memory lane (a place I visit quite often in these columns) the game has been dominated for great lengths by just one team, Dignitas at first, Saevus second, u96d, parodia, idle all have had extended periods on the throne and nobody has seemed capable until their own demise of challenging them. Saevus had brief attacks from Finnish sides Gunslingers and DSky, whilst Parodia and Idle equally had moments of optimism during the others tenure, but the fact remains we nearly always knew who was going to win.

3 years of competitive stagnation is enough to drive any community into the ground, but it hasn’t! Why? Over-hyped and over written coverage has infact given ET delusions of grandeur of its competitive scene. When any one team remains unbeaten for 14 months interest in the game must suffer as a consequence? However it hasnt, what bemuses me is that now that we actually have a three horse race for the title and where oh where is that coverage that kept this scene alive?

TLR, Dignitas and Impact now all harbour hopes of beating one another, when can that ever have been said before? This Sunday there is the realistic prospect of Dignitas being relegated into the losers bracket and yet somehow the alarm bells have barely rang down at CB HQ.

When ESL launched its first IPS season a combination of Chosen and Kafux showed the world what coverage was, "these men of will" wowed us with graphics, previews, reviews and flags yet their competition can only be remembered for 512th helix ET squad taking a map off idle in the grand final. The following EC season saw a remarkable upturn in coverage, and it looked as if the bar had been raised. All this whilst the matches were boring, the grand final was again another Dignitas rape, despite being on LAN.

This season? Despite an resurging effort by xRio the Eurocup has barely featured in the headlines here. Don’t let the one truly riveting Eurocup season be left unremembered. In the past weeks we've seen nations cup after nations cup news, but whilst those mixes have been forming, real teams have actually been playing and beating eachother!

Many names have come and gone who have brought news to the masses trying to light the fire of ET, finally the flame came alive thanks to the Estonia education system and there is no petrol being poured on top of it.

Perhaps I am alone in this opinion, I am maybe someone who is more 'sensitive' to the slightest drying of the coverage well, but the way I see it, ET is crying out for chosen and kafux to raise that bar once again, because they and coverage is the missing piece of the puzzle!