A true story, written by
Sivert “Torden” Bakkeng

Download podcast edition: Part 1
Narrated by Wildcard
Presented by Extine

Prologue: The Butterfly effect

Let me tell you a story.

Despite the near presence of some grand Team Fortress 2 tournaments on the horizon, I have to be honest: I’m growing a profound hunger for the return of our main leagues. In that starvation, I recently took a plunge into the depth of my TF2 memory. During that process, I was struck by a question, like lightning from a clear blue sky: What the hell happened with those “i like unicorn” comments?

If you’re new to Vanillatf2 (or generally an angry person), you might wonder what I’m talking about. If thats the case my suggestion would be, forget you ever heard of this, return to what you were doing and never look back. But, if not – if this mere notion strikes you as an articulation of something deeply missing in your life, join me on a deep dive into tales and folklores – a journey through an archive of forgotten and seemingly random events of our game, on the quest to uncover the truth about a long lost myth and legend…

…the one they call “the Unicorn Man”.

Ch. 1 – March 10th, 2010 – The Troll of the decade

It’s all interconnected.

Dear follower, you may wonder what an apparently random act of trolling has to do with the tale of the Unicorn Man? But, I could argue, how can some gunshots and a hand granade in Sarajevo cause an entire world to be at War? Or, how can some random religious brainwashed child become one of our most famous persons, crowned with the most viewed videos on Youtube? Bear with me, as it is all interlinked (maybe, not the Justin Bieber part). I should also mention that despite the subjective nature of my tale, all the proposed information you are about to hear, is rooted in reality.

After one of his usual witty remarks on an ETF2L thread, Braffle found himself on the receiving end of an angered gaming professional. Having spent his upbringing in a harmonic Norwegian Village, Braffle was surprised to see such spite generated from a simple joke. -It lit a spark of creativity in his mind and few hours later, video dramatisation using a scene from Der Untergang (that Hitler flick) was finished and uploaded to the masses.

One of his friends, Weqo, had seen a bigger world, from the window of his apartment in Stockholm. With swift precision, Weqo turned a boys room video production into a pro gaming super site. To another pro gamer’s demise, it was to become what some people call the world’s first useful gaming career website – an innocent plot, converted to become the most deveous piece of troll thus far in the current millenium…This bastard child was to be named Brafflegamer.eu…

…and I was impressed by Weqo’s work.

Reference: Brafflegamer.eu

Ch. 2: March 24th, 2010 – The Birth of a news site

I had gotten a spark of creativity on my own. I was missing a place to read about competitive TF2. And to my luck, I now had a contact who I knew could carry out high end pro gaming projects. After a day or 2 of hidden services, Vanillatf2.org was launched to the masses. Weqo, my new found tech-headed partner, had a particular personality, as with his overall pattern of behaviour. He was moderate, restrained and sometime even neutral to any ideas proposed. -A machine like organism, professional to the very core. His candid professional nature made him a perfect person to carry out anything requested. -And to give constructive input to how things can be realised.

…But, only a week after the launch, I discovered something I hadn’t quite seen in him before: True passion. What was the gem of his newfound preciousness? The answer was as simple as 2 words: Unicorn avatars.

End of part 1.

Stay tuned this week for the continuation, a dramatic uncovering of last year’s TF2 Europe.
-  Torden