UGC
United Gaming Clans (UGC) is a Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, Fortress Forever and Team Fortress Classic League. UGC was founded in 2002 and has a solid history in Team Fortress Matchplay, hosting both 6v6 and 9v9 (HL) leagues.
Highlander
UGC is currently in season 10 of their Highlander league with 590 team sign-ups. UGC runs three Highlander seasons each year: Spring, Summer and Fall. It currently has five different regions catered to for their Highlander league: North America (NA), Europe (EU), Asia, Austrailia/NZ and South America. There are also different skill-based divsions for the NA and EU leagues, with the latter three leagues not having enough participants as of yet to have more than one division and the EU lacking enough participants to create all five divisions. The NA divisions also have Steel and Iron split into Red and Blu factions due to a large amount of player participation.
Highlander Format
UGC runs three Highlander seasons a year. The Spring season usually starts in January, the Summer season in June and the Fall season in September. The Spring and Fall seasons usually run for 12-14 weeks, with 8-10 weeks of regular season and 4 weeks of playoff brackets. The Summer season usually comprises of 8-10 regular season week with no playoffs or participation medals (usually deemed as the "fun" season) and comprising of a more experimental maplist than the standard Spring and Fall seasons. During the regular season, teams are placed versus teams with a similar win:loss and matchpoint score for each week and a rankings table is slowly formed from it. Before playoffs begin, rosters are locked so no more players can be added and brackets are created from the current team rankings in the league. During playoffs, single- or double- elimination knock-out brackets (depending on the region/division) mean that the finals played in the last week determine the top three ranked teams for each division.
6v6
UGC is currently in it's 12th season of 6v6 with over 385 team sign-ups. UGC 6v6 seasons are similar to Highlander; one in the spring, summer, and fall. UGC has a few different region specific ladders: North America (NA), Europe (EU), and South America (SA). UGC's 6v6 NA league currently consists of 4 skill brackets, whereas Europe and South America players are all in the same bracket. Due to a large number of teams, the skill bracket Steel is split into two different brackets, Steel Red and Steel Blue.
6v6 Format
Divisions
In the order of the highest skill division to the lowest:
Platinum - Top tier. This division is for people considered to be at the top of their Highlander game. This division arguably requires the most time, dedication, coordination, and skill to compete in.
Gold (NA only) - 2nd Tier. Competition gets more fierce. Those who have the time and dedication to practice 3-4+ scrims a week and the passion to get better belong here.
Silver - 3rd Tier. This is for people who can list more than a couple seasons of experience and who are more committed to the upward path towards Gold/Platinum.
Steel - 4th Tier. This is for people with a little competitive experience to people who have at a couple of seasons under their belt.
Iron (NA only) - Bottom Tier. Entry-level aimed at players with no prior competitive experience.
Staff
This is a list of active admins for the UGC league:
Fornaught - UGC League Manager
RedRum - HL Head Admin
Infinite - HL Head Admin
Xarlor - HL Head Admin, HL NA Platinum manager
BlazingBoy - 6v6 Head Admin
snowblindfrog - 6v6 Head Admin, HL NA Gold Manager
Marxist - 6v6 Co-Head Admin (Ret.)
RomanAnderson - Web & Statistics Coder
Firefly - HL NA Silver Manager
Cold - HL NA Steel Blu Manager, News & Media
Ubiquitous - HL NA Steel Red Manager
Kumori - HL NA Iron Red Manager, Senior Admin
Gregor - HL NA Iron Blu Manager
BubbleBobbler - HL EU Platinum Manager
SuddenlyStarMia - HL EU Silver Manager
Khaleesi - HL EU Steel Manager
Stellarhopper - 6v6 & HL Admin
radio! - Graphics, HL Staff
Verdugo - HL South American Manager
W4keLife - HL Asia Admin
Spade Ace - HL Asia Admin
Tommy - HL Asia Admin
Kitten - HL AUS/NZ Manager
Sylon - HL Admin
Hein - HL Admin & Heinsight Articles
JuiceDD - FF Head Admin
HadeZtheBoss - FF Admin