As we approach 2014, let's have a look back on the major SWAT events that occurred during the year that just passed:
The first week of January 2013 saw the completion of the Mini-RD tournament that was played exclusively on the Sirens Den map. A few weeks later yet another 1.0 ViP clan (T3) closed, allegedly due to the fact that old «|US|» member Fever was caught double-clanning. To round off the month, Just Frags announced that they were going to host a new RD tournament.
With 8 teams signed up including |WM|, FoX| and »Cartel«, the JF|| tournament got well under way in February. During this period, well-known BS player bjoggi came into the spotlight after a screenshot of an xfire conversation got leaked which showed him discussing .ini modifications.
March saw the re-introduction of GameTracker support for SWAT4 servers, while an idea about a public 1.0 server with "no limitations on the rules" was brought forward. Unfortunately, it didn't come to fruition.
The JF|| tourney concluded in April, with |WM| taking top spot. Meanwhile, SWAT4 celebrated it's 8th birthday.
The JF|| tourney concluded in April, with |WM| taking top spot. Meanwhile, SWAT4 celebrated it's 8th birthday.
The month of May saw the rebirth of {TWT}clan, a true disaster from the outset which was only compounded further as it was renamed to Ultimate Force and included slogans such as "Fear us". In the final week of the period, one of the established BS clans {SWT} got closed, while the remaining active «|US|» members joined {FAB} as more clans started feeling the full force of an aging game.
In June, the VIP World Cup was confirmed to go ahead. The majority of matches were played in July, but the tournament finally finished in August, with Turkey claiming their second successive crown.
September 2013, just like October 2012 (when GameSpy shut down) was a damaging month to the game's survival. DExUS announced that UAC3 would be closing in the New Year, which will undoubtedly leave the competitive and public SWAT4 scene in disarray.
In October, ||ESA|| clan announced that they would be hosting the final UAC-based SWAT tournament. While matches starting taking place in November, the SWAT community got "blessed" with the arrival of PVP clan, with the StoneCold saga still vivid in the memory.
Finally, in December, |MYT| confirmed they would be running a new Co-Op tournament (which has reached the latter stages), while the ESA tourney came to its conclusion as |WM| clinched their second trophy of the year.
In last year's summary, it was widely predicted that 2013 would be the final year for SWAT. However, it survived very successfully with some especially memorable moments from the competitive arena. But as we now bid goodbye to UAC, what lies next in the fate for this legendary shooter?