The Carolina team has shown incredible heart the past few seasons as despite the loss of several of their players having left them without much firepower at the top, they continue to put teams to the test and have pulled off several surprising upsets despite being vastly outrated in early all of their matches.

In 2011 though, the tide may finally be turning as the Cobras have several powerful new additions to their roster which will give them several lineups of nearly maximum rating. Amongst these include IM Alexander Matros, IM Gabriel Battaglini, and the young FM Kassa Korley. With these additions increasing both their power and flexibility, suddenly they will no longer being at a huge rating disadvantage in their matches and will certainly not be a team that anyone takes for granted and may well make a playoff run or even more.

While some might still be tempted to dismiss them due to their inability to take advantage of the 2590 rating cap that allows so many teams to have much stronger lineups than it seems on paper, one cannot forget that under similar circumstances in 2008, Carolina shocked the world, winning the Eastern Division regular season title. Considering that, along with the fact that in five of six seasons of the USCL that a team without a GM has won the title, the Cobras may be a team which really turns some heads this season.