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Clan Focus
By: Kaus Debonair

The Occult Fan would like to congratulate the 2008 Clan Wars Champions. Congrats to the Devas! You are this edition’s clan of focus!



Leaders: Cookie, Delial, Kaus Debonair, Paradox
Total Membership: 32
Formation Date: April 17, 2005
Best Attribute: Activity and Skill
Biggest Challenge: Legacy Clans

Goal #1 of the Devas: Win Clan Wars. Check that one off the list. After three years and some close calls, they have finally done it. They join the short list of clans that have won the most prestigious event of the year. A finalist in 2006 and a semifinalist in 2007, both years losing the eventual champions, it seemed that it was only a matter of time before this clan would put all of the pieces together and break through. With the Zodiac Braves disbanding, the Devas did not have to go through the two-time champions in order to win. But with them not in the picture, did they really earn it? Let’s take a look at their tournament road, which seems like ancient history.

Team:
Suikoden
Mette
Delial
Kaus Debonair
Stuff

Subs:
Homer
Forky

Round one almost spelled an early exit for the Devas. With Stuff and Mette the only winners in the round, 2-3 was barely enough to get them 4th place in their division and on to the next round. It might not have been in the other division, as the BoS team had the same record, but had lost their game to the other 2-3 team in their division which spelled a first round exit.

As a very low seed due to their first round finish, they would be challenge immediately in round 2 against CC who dominated their first round. The Devas finally played like they were capable of and advance 3-1 and would not be challenged as hard the rest of the tournament, defeating Elites 3-0 in the semifinals and TK 3-0 in the finals to earn their championship.

The player of the tournament honor is a split between two players. Suikoden and Forky each went 3-0 in the tournament against very challenging opponents. This has to make a person think in hindsight, “Why in the world would the team have Forky as a sub if he played so well?” It’s impossible for us to know what would have happened if Stuff did not have to sit out the rest of the tournament, but Forky filled in admirably, displaying not only the talent the Devas have to offer, but also the depth.

Having fully displayed their tournament performance, let’s take a more in-depth look at what makes the Devas what you see today. In December, the clan was at the brink of shutting down. With membership in the low teens and leadership in question with possible departures, what was really keeping this clan alive? No activity, no tournaments, no reason to even exist. While the clan scene was in a definite recession at the time, it was never as bad as people made it seem to the point that clans would shut down. This issue was imminent to the Devas as multiple members felt it was time to leave and put the clan’s future in even further jeopardy as the roster approached the single digits, something they had not endured since their creation. How did this turn around so quickly?

Retired leader-to-be, Kaus Debonair, was in a fork in the road in his life. Graduating college and facing the working world, it was TTA or life. Ultimately, life has to be the decision no matter how addicting this game was. However, a career change opened the door for Kaus Debonair to remain a leader, and the resurgence began. Since January, the clan has nearly tripled its roster from 12 members to 35 at its highest point. The clan has flourished through regular chat tournaments, multiple CvC tournaments, rare tournaments, and a clan anniversary weekend that brought in such a surge of activity that had the clan chat filled with as many as 20 members at a time. With the concept of a Deva League starting soon, it appears that it will only help the clan remain active as it hopes to maintain the level that it has worked hard to achieve in such a short period of time. When the Devas were originally founded, the clan had installed a membership cap to prevent them from becoming too big and to allow an influx of lesser qualified members. You could say that it had the idea of being a larger Zodiac Braves at the time, which was the best skill-based clan the site had seen since the reign of the Triad Elite. The 23 member increase not only brought about a much stronger clan, but it brought about a clan with much more depth as well as mentioned in the Clan Wars segment. Even with a great player like Stuff unable to compete, another player was able to step in and be ready to contribute. Many clans don’t have the luxury of having so many strong players that would be willing to be a substitute on a team. Most talented players would prefer to be a regular on a team rather than sub, opting to play for one of their other clans.

The clan’s best attribute is activity and skill. Skill was something that many players expected out of the Devas out of the gate. Clan co-founder Kaus Debonair instilled that value into the Zodiac Braves when he founded that clan, and the same concept would be important here as well. However, where did this activity thing come from? When founded with the membership cap, activity would be secondary because the clan had its priorities at winning tournaments and dominating in that field. Since the beginning of this year, the clan seems to have prioritized building themselves into a fixture that would not fizzle out as a result of inactivity. Smaller clans built around skill can be very high maintenance because if there are any activity issues, the clan is working at a major deficit with so few spots to offer. Building the clan to 30+ members has built this clan for the long run. Even if activity waivers for some time with members, it is not as big of a deal on the big picture because one member no longer makes or breaks this clan. It does not make the clan immune to inactivity, but it certainly gives them the chance to be more successful for a longer period of time. After an event like Clan Wars, it would be very easy to start to relax and falter as a result of inactivity because people have already expended so much energy over those few months to gain the title they covet. This clan has spring-boarded that success into further success having event after event after event following their championship. If the combination of activity and skill can sustain itself for the long haul, this clan will make it very challenging for the TTAwards committee to not bestow Clan of the Year honors to the Devas.

While this clan seems to be clicking on many cylinders at the time, there is always room for improvement. In the previous look at the Devas as a clan focus, the biggest challenge for the clan was consistency. They seemed to have solved this problem with the larger roster. But that was not their only challenge. Relatively speaking, the clan is still very young when compared to BoS, Avl, Zodiac Braves, etc. One of the concepts this clan is going to have to deal with is what kind of dedication they are going to get from their members. Despite their large roster, only a small handful of them are exclusive Devas. And since the clan has only recently gotten big, they will have to overcome possible dedication to other clans. Every member on this site that is a member of more than one clan has one that that prioritize ahead of the other for some reason. By default, these new members will be very dedicated to their original clans by the amount of service time they have with those clans. Take a member like Cookie for example. He is a Deva Leader, but he was a BoS leader long before this, so he carries that history with him and the clan will have to deal with this. If the Devas want to maintain their tournament performances, they will have to overcome the members with this type of baggage in order to be successful. If not, they will have to depend on their one-clan members to maintain this success. It is tough to solidify a clan as “one of the best of all-time” if they are competing with the clans that have already achieved that title.

It is very interesting to see just how a clan has changed from something that players originally wanted, to what it becomes. Of the four founders of this clan, the only two I could ask for comment are Suikoden and Cookie. I asked the two of them about what it was like when the clan first started to what it is now. Here is what they had to say.

When you first started the clan, what hopes did you originally have for the group?

Suikoden: I've always been ambitious, but then my aim was to unite with people whom I called my friends here on TTA and win the Clan Wars. I think we didn't expect this clan to survive three long years.

Cookie: Well, the original aim was to well in the Clan Wars and then build on from there really.

With a CW win and the largest roster on TTA, did you ever imagine this kind of success within the clan?

Suikoden: Well, to be honest, I've thought that after the first CW it would fall into oblivion. But to my surprise, the clan seemed to gather the most talented people on the site and made them into what it is now, not only a roster of the best players, but a tight group of good friends and charismatic people. I enjoy every second spent in Devas.

Cookie: To be honest, no, especially as about 6 months ago we were seriously in decline for various reasons. Then we suddenly sprung back to even greater heights.

What goals do you see as priorities now for the clan?

Suikoden: We've got many players, but I would be always glad to see new talented and friendly faces in the clan. Of course another goal is to constantly maintain activity in this era of half-dead clans, and of course winning as much as we can.

Cookie: I would like to think we could achieve more than 1 Clan Wars title like some of the other previos clans and keep together like we have done before.

So, where does this clan really go from here? Their calendar for the rest of the year has been published on their clan thread. We can see that they intend to maximize their activity and try to maintain their stronghold in the TTA clan scene for the year to come. With the original goal of Clan Wars achieved, I guess all there is to do is achieve it again. The Devas will look to repeat as Clan Wars champions in 2009 and become the second clan to do so. If Clan Wars started today, the Devas would be a definite favorite to repeat as champions due to their talent, depth, and even more importantly, the relative strength of the TTA clan scene. There is no doubt that the clan scene has not fully recovered from its recent recession. Though, that means that from now until next year’s Clan Wars, a lot can change. Given how fast things can change in the community, best of luck Devas, you are going to need it now that you’ve got the target on your head!

Going along with the theme in this new era of Clan Focus articles, let us have some future predictions for the Devas in the upcoming future!

2008 Predictions for Devas:

1st place in Clan of the Year voting. While no clan that has won Clan Wars has gone on to win this honor in the following voting, the Devas are poised to be the Clan of the Year for 2008. They have positioned themselves as one of the strongest and most active clans on TTA. While that is a tough position to maintain, the relative strength of the TTA clan scene will make it a much easier position to hold.

Kaus Debonair: 2nd place in Clan Leader of the Year voting. There is no doubt that his return and the clan’s impending success are not events that coincide with either other. However, he will have to fight for this honor against 2-time winner, Shuriken, former winner, Dalamar, and re-founded Zodiac Braves leader, Kamikaze, and the upstart Elites leader that have made quite a showing this year on TTA’s clan scene. All of them work hard as clan leaders to make their respective clans. Though, a lot can change from now until December. Who knows what the vote counts will report?

Semifinalist in all tournament events entered. Like the Zodiac Braves, featured in the last edition, the Devas have an excellent crop of talent within their clan that will position them nicely in TTA clan events. Off to a great start against a fairly tough schedule in Clan League, who knows just what they will be capable of? They may be able to even capture their first title the way they are playing right now.

Thanks for the read! Next edition will take a look at another TTA clan that has made the headlines over the next three months. Who knows who that’s going to be?