Just a few short weeks ago, the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit announced the new locations for 2007. Since then, the whole community has been buzzing about. Some wondered if any west coast events were going to be held this season. Others wondered why MLG isn’t globally expanding. But this has received no where near the attention of the new game type and rule changes announced briefly after the tournament dates.

This season, Major League Gaming decided to make three decisions related to the game types played. MLG has announced the return of Midship Assault, which was last seen during the 2005 season. This game type will be replacing Capture the Flag on Beaver Creek. The second change was to Sanctuary Team Slayer, as the weapons on map have been changed from no sniping, to map default, which now allows players to get their hands on the sniper rifle and plasma pistol, both very powerful weapons in developing map control. The final change was to Free For All on Midship, no longer does the game type end when the first player has reached 50 kills. The time limit has been changed to 15 minutes and the score has been set to unlimited.

Sanctuary and Midship Assault weren’t much of a surprise as many players disagreed with the weapon set on Sanctuary and players could not stand playing Beaver Creek Capture the Flag. But a change to the Free for All was a huge surprise to everyone that is involved in the MLG community. Some top players have taken a strong likeness to the new FFA, while others strongly disagree. Some believe the new FFA requires herculean playing stamina by being able to hold a lead for a period of time and not let go of it, while in the 2006 FFA, players were able to get kills in spurts and allowed for constant lead changes and a tough battle to place in the top four.

Some players believe play style will greatly affect the outcomes of each FFA. The old style Free For All, was mainly played very conservatively as players did not rush and tended to hold key positions on the map such as pink two (an elevated room which gives a view of the whole map while giving the player in control cover) and carbine three (opposite side of the map, which allows for a wide view of the map and also gives the player in control easy kills from players spawning below them.) The new style Free for All, will require players to rush much more, as kills will constantly be needed to keep a gap between them and another player.

"Player’s who have a tendency to rush for kills, will do better than those who are still used to playing a more conservative based free for all. Although all of the top eight players in Free for All, will be able to adjust, the new Free For All will bring a few new faces into the picture," said Gilbert Munoz leader of After Effects. (27th Professional FFA, 17th Professional 4 vs. 4. Dallas)