The relative peace of the week gone by was quickly put behind us as we saw The Phoenix Rebellion wiped from the stats, along with the council of both Decadence and Omega Soldiers joining them in the grave. It was quickly established that RodBless (Rod) was behind the shootings, with a9k, boss of Gangsters Sanctuary, having funded him. Close to a million bullets exited the game in body bags as the high ranks of The Phoenix Rebellion were carried out, it did however take mere seconds for the crew to establish itself on the statistics page once more. Some may ask what links the shootings, with only one common factor running through them all and that is Most Wanted, a crew surrounded by controversy and shootings for much of the round.
With the Bullet Factories and crew spot once again secured by Most Wanted and The Phoenix Rebellion many would question the success of the shootings, with Gangsters Sanctuary seeming to of gained very little for what must of been a huge outlay. We spoke to both a9k and MoximusMox, Boss of Gangsters Sanctuary and member of Most Wanted respectively.
The feud surrounding these two main parties has been long ongoing and with little cleared up by these recent shootings, we first spoke to a9k to see what he had to say. He left us in no doubt as to the reasoning behind the shootings, telling us, "The crews who have died tonight have been supporting MW. TPR has died as MW and TPR are connected. We shot the council of OS and Decadence as a warning." Continuing to say, "They are being used by MW and should start questioning if this is the way they want to keep playing. We will keep hitting them if they the will continue supporting MW." With bullets flying and accounts dropping, it remains to be seen whether the recent shootings will strain relations between Most Wanted and its associated stats based crews. But with Bullet Factories back in the hands of all original parties and The Phoenix Rebellion back on the stats very little appears to of changed. This brought into question the success of the shootings, to which a9k responded, "We're not to worried about what they think. MW has let us know that they choose us as a target because they thought we didn't use the BFs. They found we were only stocking up resources. As I explained in a previous interview, we never claim any shootings unless we are defending (like we did now). So it might appear to them we don't do much. But does not shooting OS and Dec show weakness? Well, they might think so. Dec and OS are not our target, so why waste points at insignificant crews who live by the grace of MW? We just wanted to let them know not to support MW."
So with weapons appearing to be down and all casualties accounted for, Gangsters Sanctuary's aims appear to of been met, with sufficient warning given to both Decadence and Omega Soldiers. But how would the two crews react to this, and would it place strain on relations between Most Wanted and its supporting crews? With both Omega Soldiers and AtheistV5 refusing to comment, only outside observations of the situation can be made!
With Decadence and Omega Soldiers emerging as fairly recent allies of Most Wanted, we wanted to speak to the original ally of the crew and so got in contact with Shitney, Boss of The Phoenix Rebellion, the only crew to be completely wiped in this most recent exchange of fire. We questioned the relationship between the crews, asking if it strained relations between her members with the constant loss of accounts and cash, to which she replied, "My members are all aware of what goes on. They knew this would happen and were prepared for it." While The Phoenix Rebellion occupy the statistics page, Gangsters Sanctuary do not, providing the crews attacked no real target other than Rod to retaliate against. We asked Shitney if she believed this was a vulnerable position to be in, to which she replied, "Every crew has UG shooters. Whether they are hired or a part of the crew they do their best to stay hidden. I feel no more vulnerable today, than I did yesterday." But with no sign of the war between the crews ending, we questioned whether holding an alliance with Most Wanted was truly worth the losses incurred by continual deaths, to which Shitney said, "Who said we will keep dying, lol." Despite the fact that The Phoenix Rebellion are clearly involved in the war between Gangsters Sanctuary and Most Wanted, Shitney continued by saying, “The feud between GS and MW is between them. I have said this before.” So despite the fact that his crew was clean wiped off the statistics, Shitney still considers The Phoenix Rebellion to not be involved in the on-going fire fight. Going on to say, “To my knowledge we were wiped because we wiped TP. Makes sense for them to wipe us back, don't you think. I really don't have a war with GS. They may, but I don't. It wasn't personal, and I have stated that before.” We concluded our interview with Shitney by asking if all members of The Phoenix Rebellion supported the crews alliance with Most Wanted, to which she replied, “My members are all really good people.” Many would class this as avoiding the question, however despite recent shootings it appears nothing has changed in terms of relationship between Most Wanted and the crews it associates itself with.
Next we spoke to MoximusMox(Moxie), member of Most Wanted, the crew at the heart of much of this controversy. We asked if the recent attacks had strained relations between Most Wanted and its allied crews, to which he simply replied, “No they make it stronger.” With all crews remaining or quickly returning to the Statistics page after the recent shootings, we put the question to Moxie of whether this was a worthwhile venture, making many accounts visible and track-able to a crew whom chose to operate from underground such as Gangsters Sanctuary. He told us, “Being on the statistics obviously makes you an easier target. But it also makes them forget about the people we have who are not on the statistics. Gangsters Sanctuary have to pay people like RodBless with a large amount of points to shoot us, how long can they keep that up for?” Clearly believing there is a limit to the funding available to his enemies, Moxie seems happy to divert attention from any potential bankers and shooters Most Wanted may have while acting as a sponge for thousands of points! The shootings, as impressive as they may have been, appear to of changed very little in the grand scheme of things, and when asked for his own personal assessment of the situation, Moxie merely said, “The situation is pretty much the same. They have less resources now that is all.”
So we concluded all our interviews, and with the war between Gangsters Sanctuary and Most Wanted plus its affiliated crews seeming to be at no more of an end than prior to the blast, it will have to be a matter of time and patience to see how things develop. For now, The Phoenix Rebellion find themselves back on the Statistics, controlling more influential properties like Bullet Factories than ever. While Gangsters Sanctuary still operate from the shadows, only a9k can know for sure what their next move will be. One thing we can be sure of, is when it happens, the Buzz will be there to cover it for you!
