"SandZ journal" Sandman's AG bio/interview series
Part IV

MOD USA Team
Formed just after one short year of MOD European team hitting the Half-Life world a US player by the gaming name of "Twitch" came to me asking if he & a friend could join the team. I replied to him stating that we were mainly a European team and that if he wished he could join, either that or form a USA MOD team. Twitch then jumped at the chance saying he would love to run a USA MOD team and knew of a few players over there who would play for the team. From that moment onwards MOD USA was born (year of 2000).

MOD USA blue prints
The starting crew was made up of the ex 'fm' team that switched over to become the MOD USA team, The starting grid was Twitch (team leader), Toe, Doo, Dude, Shadoh & Goku (better known now as [dPc]Goku amazing player & person).

Twitch took the team into the OGL (Online Gaming League) winning many of their matches against some pretty decent USA teams. With Clanbase on the menu it would belong before MOD took the USA by storm.

MOD maps
Twitch not only had leadership skills but was also a Half-Life 'mapper' and in late 2001 Twitch released his first map with team. That map was '5castles_V2' & later the 'V3' which he helped promote his most respected clans MOD & team *Girlz*. Later Twitch would release his next maps that are still played to this day in AG and have been massive hits. Crossfire_AG.bsp & dabo.bsp were both developed by Twitch and featured the MOD banners on the beta copies of both maps. Dabo even made it into www.planethalflife.com's "Map of the week".

MOD USA is this the end?
By the start of 2002 a split in MOD USA between Toe, Doo & Twitch lead to the team break apart and finally Twitch decided to call it a day and MOD USA was no more. This was a big blow to us as the team was such a creative bunch of guys and shown much skill.

Red saves the day!
MOD was without a USA team for nearly 6 months during 2002 until this man turned up on the doorstep that would chance MOD history not to mention what he would bring to the AG community & the US scene. RedRum a person who gives it his all and would do anything to help others agreed to take over the running of the MOD USA team and with that he would breath new life into a dead team.

New blood, New skill, New MOD!
RedRum got straight to work by bring in a host of quality players such as Silver (better known as di.Silver), Velocity, Smoker, Violator, Scut, Monster (better known as di.Monster) , hater & Mist. These guys had already started making a name for them selves in US HLDM for teams like CHUD, but now in MOD their gaming profiles would hit all new levels as they mixed with European players.

RedRum finished off any left over matches in the OGL league before entering MOD into the POT tournament (biggest US HL/AG tournament). The team found it hard going but they were winning the odd games. RedRum knew he needed some high level players just to give MOD USA a better fighting chance and he had just they player…

It's good to be Nasty
"Na$tY" was introduced to the team in late 2002, he made such a big impact that I even had to see him in action. I gave Nasty a 1v1 match in a European AG server and boy did he give me the run about. Straight after I spoke to RedRum & Nasty to have him moved to the main EU MOD team in time for the HLCCL (biggest HL/AG league in the world). Nasty agreed & RedRum allowed him to join the European side. Nasty put on a super display for the EU team but he found it hard wanted to return to his follow gaming mates back in the US team. Later in 2003 he rejoined the USA MOD team along with some new players who RedRum knew from the umL, DADS, di & the USA ClanBase Nations Cup team that RedRum managed. Guko rejoined along with the new faces of Killah, shockwave (better known as [umL]Term), General Chow (aka [umL]Tiger), Towelie** (aka [umL]Ram), Chevelle (ex=ONE=M.Focker), Ch|ef also from=ONE=, crawdad from the team DADS, Flatliner from the team |mg|, 30footSmurf, NiGhTmArE (both from team DADS).

MOD USA hit the HLCCL
After talks between RedRum it was agreed that MOD USA should enter the HLCCL league in 2003. At this stage MOD was at it's strongest level with the European teams in division 2 & division 4 and now the USA team entering into division 7 of the HLCCL, MOD was on an all time high.

MOD USA win 2003 HLCCL Cup! 2003 HLCCL Cup Winners
With the news of MOD European team winning silver in the 2002 HLCCL cup it would be MOD USA's chance to show their playing skills to the rest of the AG world. By late summer 2003 The HLCCL cup was won by the USA MOD team who hammers many of the team they played with ease. All thanks to RedRum and his super management of the team.

MOD USA shortly moved straight into division 2 along side the European MOD team but the long awaited MOD=USA=vs MOD=EU=would never take place as the European side was finding it harder to keep their players active and shortly the team split and pulled out of the HLCCL league. MOD USA continued to hammer the 2nd division teams and was force to join the division 1 teams under the league management taking action against them. Now MOD USA were up against the very best teams in HL/AG, teams like the mighty [pmers], [pc], [CWD], [KIA] & storm.

The lights go out on MOD USA
The final outcome of MOD USA in division 1 was never really seen as the HLCCL sponsored by "Barry's World" was brought to a close at around the same time Valve (game developers) released their STEAM interface. Shortly after the collapse of the HLCCL league MOD USA also collapsed as a team. Many returning to their own USA teams like [umL]. Others gave up AG all together and moved onto other games, some even tried forming their own small teams.

From the beginning (2000) to the end (in 2003) MOD USA will always be looked at as a super performance of team play, creative development and the very best in HL gaming, but above all else it will be seen by me as a team of truly great people. Big thanks goes to:

Twitch for starting off what has been such a massive success 7 for his maps. Doo & Toe for their friendly attitude towards the MOD teams. RedRum for his leadership skills & vision for the team along with community building skills/support. Silver & Chief for their ongoing support at the team. Nasty, Mist, Monster for their support. Term, Tiger, Slinger, M.Focker, Guko for their teamwork.

And for all though who helped make this such a great team.

MOD USA class of 2003
The USA MOD Professional Half-Life clan formed after the success of MOD European team in 2001 and also played in the HLCCL league & Cup matches. The clan pulled out of Half-Life DM in the year of 2003 soon after taking gold in the HLCCL Cup & reaching Division 1 in the league.

To part 5