By Justice Feelgood Marshall, Last updated Tue Dec 6 2011 4:16am

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Texas (#1 WFTDA South Central, #8 DNN nationally)

First Bout: Saturday 9:30am vs winner of Minnesota / Charm City

2011 WFTDA record: 12-8

2011 biggest win: 384-7 vs Big Easy (February)

2011 biggest loss: 185-59 vs Bay Area (August)

2011 closest bout: Texas 162, Charm City 156 (May)

Tournament history: There's never been a WFTDA championship tournament in which sport originators Texas did not figure prominently. They won the first WFTDA national tournament, the Dust Devil invitational in February 2006, before the regional playoff system was put into place for 2007; since then, they finished in the top four in '07, '08 and '09 before finally getting eliminated short of the last two games in 2010. They've won their regional title in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and have racked up an impressive 19-7 record in postseason play (6-5 in Nationals/Championships play).

Lowdown: In terms of sheer number of victories, Texas is the winningest WFTDA team ever with 50 sanctioned victories under their belts; that translates to lot of institutional experience that has been buttressed by a steady influx of top players from around the nation over their history. Though they usually like to play a traditional game, they haven't been shy about introducing new rules exploits, as they were one of the first to successfully employ the knee start to force quick jam starts during last year's tournament cycle. However, they haven't always been too successful with the rugby start this year; against Detroit, in August, a game that was almost all rugby starts ended up almost being an upset win for Detroit before Texas hung on for the 8 point win.

Players to watch: This year's most recent additions to the Texas crew are Polly Gone and Barbara Ambush; Polly Gone, in particular, was a key double threat that helped tip the balance in their SC final game with Kansas City. Olivia Shootin' John remains the most dangerous offensive weapon but is more than ably backed up by Killbox, longtime veteran Bloody Mary and young Luce Bandit.

Road to the championship: Texas starts against the winner of Charm City / Minnesota, a match that could quite conceivably go either way. Texas has one close win already this year against Charm in a game where both teams weren't fielding all their top players (and Texas had not yet added Polly Gone or Barbara Ambush). If Texas gets out of that game, though, the road gets a lot harder as they'd almost certainly be up against Gotham or Rocky Mountain in the semifinal.

Roster: 02 Shortcut // 03 Olivia Shootin' John // 5 Smarty Pants // 6 Sic Shooter // 12 DeBella DeBall // 19 Molotov M. Pale // 21 Rita Menweep // 22 Polly Gone // 30 Bloody Mary // 33 Luce Bandit // 52 Ruby Wring // 56 Lucille Brawl // 66 Devil Grrl // 76 Curvette // 86 The Killa' Sal Monella // 914 Virgo Vengeful // 989 Killbox // 1600 Barbara Ambush // 1853 Vicious Van Go Go // 1889 Belle Starr