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Well here is the start in a new daily segment I plan to do for the next 18 days or so (may miss one if I get busy)

Today we’ll be reviewing Terror Mountain. Where they’ve been, where they are, and where I think they’ll go.

Starting from the beginning, Terror Mountain was always a team that had an attractive theme, in consideration to Neopets core audience. Essentially they were likely to attract enough members to the point that they’ve been a medium sized team throughout most of their existence. It’s also evident on their early placements, 15th in ACI 10th in ACII 12th in ACIII and 13th in ACIV. With the exception of ACII where they were able to rack up an impressive 10 YYB wins, their progress always seemed stagnant to a certain degree, until ACV that is. Now ACV didn’t really introduce anything new for the team as to account for what jumped them into 9th, they just sort of got lucky, going into the finals they were 12th, but they were able to pull an upset victory against a demoralized Haunted Woods (who once again missed out on second tier) and then beat Tyrannia (in a close 2 day match that boiled down to side games). The ability to jump up three places from where they had been performing against other teams during the round robin gave them a “stronger then might be” appearance, causing pre-season predictors to not really give them credit, leading to what I call “the ACVI Terror Mountain explosion”. Now going into ACVI Terror Mountain was getting a little help in the form of a now defunct All-Star group called “Dream Team” who had fled a drama filled Shenkuu in search for a more harmonious time, and Terror Mountains ACV standings, coupled with their lax and easy going nature, made them a perfect fit. Now I don’t want to say all their success came from an All-Star group, by no means is that so, they also had a very good pre-season atmosphere which attracted lots of “team hoppers” and new players, so their were other factors in play. Never the less when ACVI started, the newly powered up Terror Mountain faced off against their (kinda) former home Shenkuu, and the end results were a sweep in their favor. From their they proceeded to pounce on any team that seemed to get in their way, for the first round that is, but sadly drama appeared to have infected the team. As trophy hunters who had been impressed with their early dominance began to join the team, a new atmosphere apperared to take over, and the TOTM (Terrors of Terror Mountain) board became like a lion exhibit during feeding time, causing their second round results to reflect an early Terror Mountain performance (few YYB wins, but enough side game victories to keep them in the second tier) but the fire had clearly been extinguished, as their performance in finals (with the exception of a YYB victory against Meridell first day) showed that Terror Mountain had already checked out.

Now going into ACVII it was kinda clear to the untrained eye that Terror Mountain was going to fall. Losing an All-Star group coupled with receiving the dreaded stigma as being “the drama team” were not beneficial to them going into the pre-season, and when the results started to match this, it seemed like they just couldn’t catch a break, and ACVIII doesn’t seem like their going to be on fire too much either. They still have the stigma of being a drama filled team, and chunk of their former die-hards have either left, or skied their way to other teams, so I really don’t see them picking up much next year (especially if TNT keeps with the current format).

What do you think about Terror Mountain, will they continue with their lack luster performance, or will they surprise everyone and make a run for the podium next season? Leave a comment below.