Well, I am happy to announce that team GDT has been completed. I have looked through all of the candidates that applied and I am far more happy with the outcome then I expected. We have a very talented group of people and I look forward to playing with you. This goal started with me spamming some forums sending out my intentions.

Right away I landed our first member Halides. Halides is from Finland and is not too experienced, but he won his first pro tour qualifier and is going to Austin for the upcoming pro tour. Team GDT was very happy to have their first member who had the drive we were looking for, and had already qualified for a pro tour to boot!

Our next member was Ryuuk. While Ryuuk has not qualified for a pro tour yet, he showed the drive and willingness to convince me that he is a good enough player to go all the way, and that is what GDT needed.

The third member of GDT came to us as a surprise. It turns out that Ata is a fellow utopia player of mine. Ata has quite a resume under his belt, having already won a couple of PTQs and accumulating a couple pro points is very impressive. Even more impressive, he qualified for Pro Tour Austin without even having to win a PTQ because he is currently the 88th ranked constructed player in the world and recieved an invite for being in the top 100. Ata is sure to be a boon for team GDT.

After recruiting Ata I was pretty happy with the way things were going. Team GDT already had two members who were invited to Pro Tour Austin. So when Jan PMed me on facebook saying that he was the 80th overall player in the world and he was interested in joining our team I got in touch with him and now we have a player who already has 20 pro points, 10 from this season and is on the verge of being a professional MTG player.

Lastly Curly had been flaming team GDT not believing we were serious. After he learned we had recruited Ata and Jan, he realized we are serious. After that he proved to me that he had the skill and drive to join the team.



Now, that puts us at 5 members. I had wanted to go from somewhere between six and ten. After carefull deliberation and looking through many more applicants I came down to the decision that we will be a 5 manned team. I feel that 7 active people is more then enough to get plenty of play testing done, and the more people we have, the less chances of obtaining sponsors we have.

Now, before I say who made the team I want everyone who applied to know that there was no one I instantly skipped over. There was a reason for each individual person why they did not make the team, and I will gladly speak with you in private if you would like to know. I want to make one thing clear though. Just because you are not on the team does not mean you can not stay around and hang in our MIRC channel. If you still want to get better, stick around, chat, we enjoy friendly faces. There will more then likely be open positions down the road from people retiring, or if we get a big enough sponsor, or if I just feel the need to expand the team for someone who has proven themselves. Do not let the fact that you didn't make it this time stop you from ever trying again.

And with that out of the way I would like to finally wrap this post up with what everyone has been waiting for. The final two members of team GDT(assuming they accept my invitation) is;

Triad
Tuffy

I would like to invite Tuffy to the team because even though tuffy has not made a pro tour yet, I feel he will very soon. He has contacts besides team GDT to help him improve, he already plays poker professionally, and lastly his performances thus far have been very impressive. Welcome Tuffy to team GDT.

I would also like to invite Triad. He has shown a couple of impressive performances, and is willing to travel extensively. Someone who has the skill and is willing to go to numerous pro events will sooner or later make his big break and move on. Welcome to the team Triad.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who has applied, made it, and been declined. I thank you for the effort that you put into this whole ordeal and I am sorry for those who could not make it. I really hope you continue to hang around and stay with us. For everyone on the team, please follow the orders in the second post.

Alright, for everyone who made the team. Welcome aboard. As you know the pre-release of Zendikar is this weekend. After this weekend we will start play testing. I want everyone to go out to this pre release and experiance what they can. Come Sunday/Monday we should have a patch for MWS so we can start playing. There are two formats we will be practicing for. Sealed for those of us who are going to Grand Prixs, and we will also be practicing extended for the upcoming season, and for those going to PT Austin.

I want everyone on IRC as much as they can be. If you are online and your computer is on, I would like you on IRC, even if you're not home. The same goes with ventrillo. I would like to see people on ventrillo more often. If you don't have the server info for it, then feel free to ask me. Also, I need everyone to register thier name on IRC if they have not done so. For instructions on how to do so, follow this link. http://www.utonet.org/faq.php#q14

Also, I need you guys to post your records here viewtopic.php?f=21&t=481

And if you could do an introduction of yourself in team roster, that would be cool. We'll be having a more detailed survey later when we do a more in depth "about us" page.

Lastly, we should be getting a new forum soon, and the whole website might change. If you have any comments or thoughts, feel free to contact Taku, who is the founder of team GDT, and the captain of the GDT DOTA team.

Congratulations on making the team guys! =)

"I have returned"




Cookie to who gets that

Actually the upcoming PTQ season is Zendikar Sealed, Extended is not until next year. So practicing for Extended right now is dumb as there will be yet another set coming out for that season.

Since we have players going to PT Austin it might be a good idea to test Extended so they don't make fools of themselves.

Not to mention the beginning of Extended Season remains the format until Worldwake comes out in the middle of the season.

Nick I think there's been some sort of mistake, I don't see myself on the team list. Fix it ASAP please.

Thanks