I think it's safe to say that the 23rd season of MKL has been nothing short of memorable. After nearly a year hiatus from league play, Goth, Zion, and Ovechkin came together to bring yet another season of MKL to the North American server. From the demise of the Youngstown Phantoms to player demands and endless kiekko beefs, we'll be diving into everything thats happened so far in season 23. 

March 14th, 2021 capped off the start of the league with draft night, where first time GM Zion and his Warsaw Wasps traded the #5 and #6 picks to Yogi and his Taber Corn Cobblers for the #1 and #10 picks. Zion was able to snag Zach away from Shaq and his Never Broke Again franchise with the #1 pick of the draft, where Zach had a chance to slip to them at #2. Admittedly, the draft hosted by Commisioner TJ did not run as smoothly as times in the past, but we will give him a pass as it was his first time running the draft and we eventually got through the trying times.

Moving on from the draft, the demise of the Youngstown Phantoms has been an interesting story to say the least. First time GM Vibin drafted Kyle and Anthony with his first and second round picks respectively. Unbeknownst to Vibin, apparently Kyle and Anthony were sworn enemies from the start, throwing a major wrench into Vibin's first stint as a GM. Kyle demanded a trade, stating that had it been anyone other than Anthony, he would've tried to make it work. Eventually, Kyle got his way and finangled his way over to the Taber Corn Cobblers, making way for Adam to go to the Phantoms. Adam had claimed to have very limited availability for the season but weirdly enough he was the most active player on the Phantoms (other than Vibin). Not much longer after that, adding fuel to the fire, Kyle managed to find Anthony's LinkedIn profile and posted it all over the discord channel, resulting in Anthony rage quitting the season and never to be seen again. It was a bittersweet moment considering Anthony was not well-liked amongst the community, but now the Phantoms had lost one of their best players. The Phantoms were slated to have one of the worst starts out of the five teams. With the team struggling, Shaq kindly gave away Letang to the Phantoms in a surprising act to look out for the league's best interests. 

While we're on the topic of bad starts, one of the most highly touted teams in the pre-season, the NBA starring Shaq and Razorback, began the season 0-3. As of the time of this article, NBA has a record of 2-3-2. #2 Razorback is off to undoubtedly his worst start of his career, posting 0 goals and 4 assists in his 7 appearances. Whether he is in a severe slump or just doesn't give a shit anymore, it is unclear how this team will bounce back after the rocky start to the season. 

At one point, Kyle decided to recruit one of his friends and spammed the discord endlessly for hours one Saturday, As a result, he was awarded Overlord status on the server. Makes sense to me. Adam has also been the ring-leader of negativity as of late, constantly stating that the league and game is "ded" on discord, all the while league games are being playey concurrently. Lastly, #1 pick Zachary has suddenly decided to "sit out the season", claiming that he was drafted to a team of players that he can't stand, let alone all together. Instead of being the captain of the team, he has decided to show his lack of leadership skills and bail on his team. It's kind of enthralling that people will sign up for a draft league and expect to be on a team catered to their wants and needs instead of playing through adversity and showing everyone who's boss.

Stay tuned for more updates around the league :D