On July 2, SWAT was moved down to S/M from major status after three consecutive weeks of low maxes. Coming off the heels of World War IX ending, SWAT’s new classification comes as a surprise to many. What happened that lowered their maxes so suddenly?
Army legend Ganger90 created Special Weapons and Tactics on July 7, 2009. They have grown to impressive heights, earning the best S/M army trophy in 2022’s End of Summer Awards and participating in the recent World War IX as part of the Sapphire Concordat. They achieved major army status in the Club Penguin Armies organization on August 8, 2022, and have become respected members of the community, holding their own in various tournaments and battles.
SWAT’s most recent conflict was their participation in WWIX, which they joined on June 2, 2022. Although the Sapphire Concordat struggled across the war, SWAT pulled through and assisted their brothers in arms at crucial junctures. Ultimately, because no official winner was declared, it’s difficult to say whether SWAT themselves benefited from the war, or instead burnt themselves out. Judging from their recent reclassification, the latter appears to be true.
Sapphire Concordat vs the Blue Sunset Alliance during WWIX
This tiring conflict was in addition to SWAT and Sapphire Concordat also facing the Dark Vikings, days before entering World War IX. Hence, in spite of their initial success during 2022, SWAT saw dwindling maxes as the wars came to an end, going as low as having 10 online, barely managing to retain their major army status. SWAT consistently maxed below 15 and repeatedly placed below the top 10 until they dropped down to S/M. Not only this, but they often hosted only one event per week, no doubt contributing to their downfall. What caused this lowered performance?
Club Penguin Armies reached out to SWAT leader Legoman to learn how he feels his army’s drop to S/M will affect them.
How do you feel about being bumped down to S/M?
It may seem demoralizing but this is a new opportunity for us. Given the circumstances of myself and my coleaders, as well as a good number of our HCOM, it isn’t a massive surprise. Nonetheless we will not let it deter us from keeping SWAT as a fun and exciting community.
Do you feel that this reclassification could have been avoided?
It could’ve been avoided for sure, but the reality is a lot of our team has other real-world obligations that are more important than Club Penguin. In a perfect word it would be easy to find a balance, but that’s not the case. I’m gonna be fully transparent I did have an irl friend pass away and my priorities have been messy so I personally apologize to SWAT and the wider community if I have been negligent in any way.
What was the cause of your army’s drop in max size recently?
Inactivity.
How do you plan to improve going forward?
More activity, more events, more recruiting, and more amogus game nights. Among Us is the way. In all seriousness, last year SWAT experienced a similar early Summer slump and yet was able to eventually build up and max large sizes. A lot of phenomenal individuals have been stepping up recently and their combined efforts can propel us to new heights. Big shoutout to all SWAT members and I want to notably recognize SWAT Staff/HCOM like Ggogle, Jes.mess44, Oli, Stevie, Rocks, Krill 300, Zooy, Sabre and my personal recruits FWAPO, Ovron, and Akio who have all continued putting immense effort into the SWAT army. A huge thank you of course to Ganger90 for still sticking around, not only watching over his creation but actively recruiting and making people feel welcomed. An additional shoutout to anyone that’s actually read this far because I definitely did not intend on writing this much about Club Penguin LOL. It’s a long journey but lets make the most of it.
Legoman seems confident that he can push on and bring SWAT back to its former glory amidst HCOM troubles. Now that the pressures of war are gone, SWAT may see a boost in activity from both troops and staff and a resurgence in their size. If they can achieve higher maxes, they could have major status back by the end of the month. Will SWAT rise up again? Or will they remain stuck as a S/M army for the foreseeable future?
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