After a long absence from Australian and New Zealand's team schedules, CyberGamer and Western Digital have provided the community with a stable and competitive 1.6 League that will allow teams to compete in a professional practice environment, whilst offering a high level of competition and an awesome cash prize pool at the end.

Tonight we see Australia's and New Zealand's premier 1.6 teams engage head to head in the online arena, marking the first night of the long awaited Western Digital Black League.  In this the opening night of the seven week league, teams will face off on de_inferno.

This will prove to be an interesting opening night as inferno is traditionally seen as a "balanced" map and teams will need to use a combination of strategy, timing and chemistry to give themselves every possibility of a strong start to their campaign. Let us take a look at the opening match-ups on the inaugural night of the Western Digital Black League.

Tonight's Matchups

Week 1 - inferno
Black - Tue
	Time: 8 PM	Athletico	vs	Pointclick
	Time: 8 PM	Exile5	vs	KBS
	Time: 9 PM	VHM	vs	nordland
	Time: 9 PM	Archaic	vs	Uprising

Athletico vs. Pointclick

Athletico will be hoping their maintenance of a strong core will prove vital in their first encounter tonight, as they will be running into the newly formed pointclick outfit. Sporting some familiar names in ferg, rumil, diggity and sokjin, pointclick will be looking to assert themselves in the first couple of rounds, as inferno can be decided on pistols. Athletico have only had a week or so to work in their new 5th, but this should not offer them an excuse  as they still maintain a core of four players. You can expect both teams to maintain relative organisation as there is certainly no shortage of ingame leadership amongst the lineups. When asked about tonight's match and their preparation in the lead up, HLTV.org pin-up boy, peekay had this to say:

"We haven't been able to scrim together lately as much as we would have liked (peekay builds helicopters X9), but if everyone is in good mood and knyz can hold b online for once, we should do quite well."

My prediction - Athletico - It's hard to go past consistency and stability, but I know ferg likes to prove me wrong.

Exile5 vs. KBS

The new Exile5 lineup, whilst remaining untested, will certainly find some stiff competition in the form of Keyboardsports. Hot off a second place at the WCG Australia finals, their lineup has taken a few turns with all bar two of the players retaining a spot in the squad. In a rush to find a 5th for the competition, I have been informed that they will be using T-Crane in place of FizzLTD due to study commitments, so it will be interesting to see what the team can do with such limited preparation. Also, being the first proper hitout for both of these teams, this match will depend largely on who can find and captialise on the chinks in each others armour. When approached about tonight's match, and their recent lineup drama, and whether that had put in any preparation, teddyt had the following to say: 

"Since dan (fizz) told us only last night he can't stay in the team because of uni commitments it was quite a rush to try find somebody to replace him for the CG comp.  So.. not much"

My prediction - KBS - RushN is in some hot form, but I am really licking my lips to watch coNz go scope to scope with doudou.

VHM vs. Nordland

The recent addition to the ranks of the Western Digital Black League, VHM will be looking to make the most of their opportunity to compete regularly at a high standard. Looking to take advantage of a stable core of players, VHM will have their sights set on a strong start to their campaign. Their opponents for the evening will be Nordland, who can be seen scrimming regularly together on any given night. When quizzed about the team's preparation for the league, davestr1zl gave an unusually short winded response:

"None whatsoever unfortunately, not deliberately or anything just that we've been playing mostly CSS (or Knight Online) the past couple of weeks due to there being a couple of competitions we entered. We also had to replace Luke like 2 days ago due to him breaking his wrist which sucks. Hopefully we will still do ok but we'll have to wait and see!"

My prediction - Nordland - Typically foes in local competition, I think davestizl will know what to expect from the VHM boys.

Archaic vs. Uprising

Archaic will no doubt be disappointed after being denied an opportunity to compete with the world's elite after funding for their WCG adventure sadly fell through. Whether this will affect the level of seriousness in their approach remains to be seen, but I would expect these guys to come prepared and play with the same amount of enthusiasm and professionalism we have come to expect from our friends across the sea. Bring a strong lineup to the competition, they will be looking to fly their nations flag and assert themselves early on. Their first hurdle will be in the form of uprising. With all the drama in the QLD scene of late, it is beginning to look like a season of 'Wife Swap", with both aspire and sai exchanging places in the uprising and Athletico lineups respectively. When asked if this has affected the preparation of his usually structured and typically prepared team and his expectations for the league, BurtoN had the following response. 

"Well Aaron was replaced by Scott in athletico due to his availability or lackthereof. This said we haven't really had any opportunity to prac since the roster change. We're hoping to come to an arrangement soon which will allow us to start practising again, as when we had Scott we had a pretty tight practise regime. Even with the roster change though, I feel that we are fairly well prepared on inferno and I'm optimistic about what we are capable of tonight. As for my expectations for the competition, for a community standpoint, I think this competition will clear up some of the bad stigma about online leagues in Aus and will be a great opportunity for the community. For my team the expectations will obviously vary depending on what arrangement we can work out so that we can actually practise. That said I'd love to make finals."

My prediction - Archaic in a close encounter - Spurred on by the disappointments of the last few days, they will be looking to rally as they set new goals for their immediate future.

I am sure you will all enjoy tonight's competition as much as all of the players look forward to competing. Thank you to all players who took the time to provide some insight into the competition.