lunachick recently made a (long) post on ClanBase about the history of the Enemy Territory NationsCup and how it got to where it is today. She also takes a brief look at how ET's stability has changed quicker than the British weather over the last few months.

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The EuroCup final was the most important summit ET had ever known: around 1500 spectator slots alongside three shoutcasters including iTG's KeeRing and FlyingDJ. Indeed, it turns out that 1500 spectator slots weren't enough; everyone wanted to see this match.

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As with every new sport - it's all about the show. Just think of darts. In the early days the top people would try to throw out by throwing the Bullseye, however nowadays we will only see a double-twenty. What's going on with ET then? Don't the players enjoy the game anymore?

Full story inside.

Good ol' times
The first ET NationsCup started in October 2002. Sixteen Nations took part in it and the ETPro version at that time was 2.0.5. Even though shoutcasting was already very popular back then, there was no such thing as ETTV. At the very most there were a few spots available through Windows Media Player. Some of the Supervisors from back then are still in the ClanBase Crew, but moved on to different games or different positions within ClanBase, whereas other have left CB for good. We are talking about people like Ins0mnia, Lake and alpn. The first ET NC saw Austria grabbing silver against Finland. No one seemed to be able to beat Finland as they had also won the NC after seeing Belgium finishing second. Then the tide turned and ETTV started to hang about. This was one of the best things to happen to ET, free fun for the whole community.

Fun, really?
This is a good question these days; we can divide this fun in two categories: the players and the fans. Back then ETTV.ORG was to thank for Enemy Territory advancing. Even nowadays people will still tell you Enemy Territory has past it's sell by date. However a look at ClanBase shows ET as one of the top five games.
Looking at the fun bit, we'll start with the fans.

During the previous EuroCup, some would say that ET was going down hill fast but it would seem it now has a new boost of life. What happened? We started showing. Showing... A few facts that had changed before the EuroCup were Supervisor changes, ETTV.org moving over to GAMESTV.ORG and expanding, and a lot of high-skilled clans dying. Because of this, and only the high-skilled clans being in the spotlights, people assumed that it was whole ET going down. Even the EuroCup winners had already announced that their time was done before the EC final even took place. Is there absolutely anything more demotivating, except for other teams who have a little more view on glory? If the best clan in your game leaves it; what's left?

The EuroCup final was the most important summit ET had ever known: around 1500 spectator slots alongside three shoutcasters including iTG's KeeRing and FlyingDJ. Indeed, it turns out that 1500 spectator slots weren't enough; everyone wanted to see this match. Unlike most high-profile games, this one started on time and after an hour of intense battle it was uQ taking the win over idle.ee. This night was just the revival that ET needed to get people motivated again. What do we see now? A huge amount of high-skilled clans; even a couple of the "dead" ones came back and are fitting in just right. So is this still fun? Yes!

So what's going on with the players?
As with every new sport - it's all about the show. Just think of darts. In the early days the top people would try to throw out by throwing the Bullseye, however nowadays we will only see a double-twenty. What's going on with ET then? Don't the players enjoy the game anymore? An explosive showdown between Estonia and Finland was set to take place last week; a game most thought would be the final.

Indeed, there were more than 1000 spectator slots available and four shoutcasters ready in multiple languages. What happened? Finland couldn't be bothered. Whether it was down to the lack of players or even the "common cold" fever that was making it's way through the Finnish lineup; these guys couldn't deliver. Surely enough even the chance at holding a bronze award for a cup is worth the fight? Above all there were Finnish spectators all ready to egg on their national team.

So, anything else?
So there's ClanBase's Enemy Territory history. After a lot of people commenting on ET CB and the Supervisors going their own way, the ET Crew lost it's strength. This was around the beginning of 2005, just before the biggest SpringCup ET had ever seen. How could a big season kick off anyway? The ET Crew was filled with fresh blood, and coverage grew. How come? It was a mixture of Cash and Angrykid. Cash, nowadays known as CB's Editor in Chief came up with the idea of making coverage for this game so big, that no one could miss out in any way.

What happened because of that? More teams signed up for the OpenCup and more cupadmins applied. This, including a couple of happy Supervisors is the base for a good cup. Now as the coverage was big already we took it a step further. ETTV.ORG was born, then also starting to focus on more games, it is now GAMESTV.ORG dominating the ET-scene. Some of you were probably already impressed with the earlier mentioned 1500 slots, there is more... The NationsCup Gold Final will be played sunday.

Why is this so special? Why are some people even afraid of it? What is going to happen?
Afraid of it? Yes, maybe. The last ET NC saw Estonia starting their joyride, and another surprising nation Hungary ended second. 2006 now though, and never before in an Enemy Territory NationsCup did we see The Netherlands and Germany even getting close to a golden cup.
Netherlands, never even reaching a semifinal changed captain and now have their eyes on this cup:
robbenoot: I am aware of the fact that team-NL has never managed to get any further than stage one or two of the playoffs. This is of cource reason for me to be proud of what we have reached this season already, whatever may be the outcome of this final. The only reason why this was all possible is of course because of the players. I have, as the captain, put a team together of what I thought was the best mix of players for this season's Nationscup. All I had to do is keep these guys active, and the rest they did themselves. I would also like to mention sem as he has been a great help for me as a captain and he definately was our 'MVP' this season with his great ingame leading ability.
Same goes for Germany, and there's a reason.
[flag=de] biqq: It's the first time the German captain picked players he doesn't have any sympathie for. That doesn't mean that I hate players out of my team, but we didn't like each other before. The last two German national teams consisted out of friends and I was the first captain who looked above the past relationships of the players. Now we have a team, that simply fits together and thats why we got this far.

So what's so terrifying?
A big word with a big meaning. These nations haven't faced each other before. Sunday we will see them facing each other, with all the newsposts about that match in particular to follow.


It's the biggest match ET has ever seen, anywhere. Not because it's an NC final between the Nations where this game is based on. No... Nowadays we call matches big when there is a lot of coverage. [wl=328][/wl]A match between [flag=de] Germany and [flag=nl] The Netherlands will take place during the EC invitations on sunday; a German and a Dutch shoutcaster for both nations, then there is iTG with the English version, and to finish it off, French and Estonian shoutcasts are available. The most important thing? At the moment we have 2500 ETTV slots. No... You don't want to miss this.