1⁵ᵀ    Epsilon eSports  (137 points)
2ᴺᴰ    Team Infused (130 points)
3ᴿᴰ  Crack Clan (114 points)
4ᵀᴴ  2  Broder (94 points)
5ᵀᴴ  2  Team Yoyotech (79 points)
6ᵀᴴ  3  Exotic Island (78 points)
7ᵀᴴ Karnage eSports (74 points)
8ᵀᴴ  Tryharders (43 points)
9ᵀᴴ  Team Decerto (34 points)
10ᵀᴴ    Quarantine (29 points)

Greg — Fifteen votes will go into each month’s rankings, ten of which are from the previous month’s top ten teams, and five of which are from our panel members, who will vote every month. The points system remains simple: a first place vote earns that team 10 points, 9 points are awarded for second place, and so on. The numbers in parentheses refer to the specific team’s ranking in the previous Month.

Continue reading to find out who the panel members are, and see their thoughts and opinions on this month’s rankings.

The Panelists

Xavier "CommanderX" Hardy

Xavier is making his debut as a top ten panellist, stepping in for Mr Champagne who is still AWOL this month.

Currently teamless, he still believes he can pull the strings inside the top of the European scene, thanks to his keen nose for gossip, intrigue and his subtle hints on PirateRadio.

“Oh look another top 10 on time as anything in TF2. Epsilon are unbeaten again in a month that including an Excello Invite Cup win and following a familiar pattern we see Infused and CrackClan complete the Top10. The skill difference between the top two and the rest is significant and the only team that seem capable of competing is CrackClan. If any team is going to break the oligopoly my money would be on Karnage or YoYoTech, these teams are most certainly the best of the rest even if the results of January did not reflect this.

My January rankings are tainted by the lack of matches played, making it hard for me to justify placing the teams exactly where I wanted.  Basically Excello decided my rankings for this month so there is not much to talk about there. Let’s look at the chasing pack for the sake of it then. YoYotech, the other promotees, have a much chance. With players such as Kaidus and Tviq who can really make a difference at Prem level they could potentially break into the prestigious top 3, if Boomeh and Kaidus can sort out the comms and get the team moving in the right direction and working together then they are the team to watch.

On the other side of the bottom half of Prem there are the newer teams, Karnage and TryHarders. TryHarders had a disappointing month without managing to find their way out of the Open Bracket of Excello after being knocked out by Karnage. Tryharders are the newest of the teams in Prem and with this they bring and unknown element. A talented scout pair combined with new talents Traxx and Erectus. Traxx is a carbon copy of Mike and has top death match and Erectus has also shown to have potential despite still being overly passive at times. Their strong death match and reckless aggressive stylecould cause some upsets.

Meanwhile, in Karnage land it could go either way really. A lot of it depends on how Raliator fits back into the game, how Crouton performs in a top level environment and what the rest of the roster ends up being. Results in Janurary don’t really give us much insight into how it will go for them but I think a lot depends on how well Quad and Thy can play. Qn and Decerto complete the top 10 being the best of the rest, Eq aren’t too far behind though.”

 

Gregory "Greg" Bushell

Greg is the resident superstar scout on the panel, having risen through the ranks with his fellow Brits at Team Infused. He also has been known to lend his vocal talents to shoutcasting and is universally known as being a ‘lovely guy’.

His biggest claim to fame is that he has proven to the tf2 community at large that he can offclass as demo with the very best of them – destroying all comers at i44 with absolute ease, oh and he also held a champions league trophy but that isn’t nearly as awesome.

We are back, with 2012 kicking off with a bang – or as big of a bang as could be remembered, with it being over 3 weeks since the end of January, so I guess I have to hold my hands up and blame the rest of the panel for their unbelievably slow response to my e-mails, or in some cases no response at all.  However here we are, so lets take a look at January and thankfully, due to the two Excello cups, we actually have some results to help tell the teams apart (unlike the previous month’s guesswork) as well as having some help from ETF2L, in the form of 1 official and the Prem + Div1 team decisions.

Taking a look at the top of the table Epsilon retain 1st place and maximum points, thanks to the victory they achieved in the Excello invite, overcoming Infused in 3maps, who subsequently remain in second.  CrackClan follow, after losing to Infused in the semis of the same cup.

Moving onto the more difficult area of the top10, where there are always a lot of discrepancies, due to the fact that on their day each team can take maps off each other.  So broder, who due to some roster changes have unfortunately already folded this month, take 4th, with a fantastic game against yoyotech on 3 maps (the decider was foundry!??), who also push their way up the table into 5th.  Exotic managed to push Crackclan to the brink on granary, and deserve 6th.

We also saw Karnage and Decerto book themselves spots in the Excello invite cup, thanks to reaching the final of the open, with the former winning that final and also taking my 7th.  Tryharders missed out on one of the invite spots, however you cannot gloss over some of the roster, and grab 9th, with my last single point going to Quarantine

All things considered I am really looking forward to seeing where all of these teams rank up in the next top 10, with so many changes and folds, who knows whats coming next?

 

Peder "crouton" Holterman Solland

Crouton is the new kid on the block both in our panel and to the Team Fortress Scene thanks to the free-to-play initiative.

Don’t let his free-2-play title scare you though, he is a rising star amongst the newly Prem team; Karnage eSports, where he can be found stealing frags off his scout partner.

“Since last update not much has changed in the top. Epsilon beat Infused in the final of the Excello Invite cup and Infused beat Crack Clan in the semi final of the same cup. Top 3 of prem is still standing strong, although new challengers are on the rise. In the premier division of etf2l not much has happened except folding and delays.

Of the new challengers I think Yoyotech stand the strongest as of now due to karnage rebuilding their roster, again. However we probably have a good chance at getting the fourth spot after playing with our new roster.

If tryhards keep their cool and play like they should be able to then I don’t think any of the div1 teams can really touch them yet, but you never know with this kind of lineup and their alleged problems with rage can leave their results suffering.

When it comes to the teams in division 1 I’d say that Quarantine is on top, this is however purely based on our results in PCWs where they seem like a team who can keep up. Decerto is on eighth based on their results in etf2l where they’ve beaten ISIS and La Girafe somewhat convincingly even though they had to go to golden cap versus La Girafe. LMS also beat ISIS 6-0  and are second place in the division for now. My list is concluded by the frenchmen of Blast in the tenth spot whom with their 4-2 win over over unexist is on fourth place in the division.”

 

James J. "Admirable" McDonnell

James is the ex-(fore)head of TF2 coverage at Cadred turned VanillaTF2 staffer; a long time community enthusiasist and LAN slut.

James has played in the Irish national team and much-loved coolclan in the past, although remains mysteriously unclanned at present despite his irrefutable skills.

His favourite colour is green and his favourite hat is the Cheater’s Lament.

“Hahaha! A January Top 10?  I remember this thankless drudgery all too well.  In fact this will be the third one of my illustrious eSports journalism career.  So I will mark this glorious milestone with less complaining and more flaming.

Not even the slightest shred of doubt in my mind as to the Top 3 this month, nor any doubt for the Top 3 for the rest of the Season 11.  Epsilon, Infused and Crack Clan; anyone who thinks differently should be punched repeatedly in the face until the lose the ability to count to three.

Broder get fourth, just as they did in the Excello SPARKLE Cup where they actually managed to take some rounds of Epsilon unlike the rest of the garbage teams polluting the slippery slope, nay vertical drop in ability that descends from the bronze podium position.

Everything else is a bit of a shit sandwich from here on in, but one corner of said layered arrangement of rancid faecal matter and pristine Kingsmill pan loaf looks slightly less soiled, verging palatable in the current skill famine that plagues our lands.  Congratulations Exotic, you gave Crack Clan a run for their money in Excello and in the season proper even managed to issue a Golden Cap beat down on Team YoYoTech, who themselves will take sixth despite a close game with Broder.

Karnage eSports showed that they at least don’t belong in Division 1 when winning the Open bracket of the Excello SPARKLE hoedown, but looked totally out of their depth when facing Team Infused in the Invite bracket.  Tryharders did a similar impression of a drowning man against Epsilon eSports in their rather forgettable Premiership debut, and also became just another notch on Karnage eSports bedpost when failing to escape the Excello SPARKLE Open bracket.

Decerto are an easy pick for ninth but I’m clutching at straws for a worthy contender for the much coveted tenth place…. Hmmm!  Unexist for having the balls/stupidity to permanently run Kritzkreig in any and all situations.”

 

Jason "kaidus" Allan

Jason completes our ramshackle panel again this month. Many of you will know him as the outspoken debate junkie from the ETF2L forums turned Cadred (non-)contributor, but he’s a nice guy really!

His biggest claim to fame is that he once played in the same team as Admirable at LAN. Fortunately he is able to play TF2 once more, and you can now find him rocking huge airshots for Team Yoyotech.

“The gap between the top 3 and the and the remaining 7 remains evident this month. Epsilon, Infused and CrackClan sit way above the rest of the division with little sign of anyone throwing a spanner in the works any time soon. Even then, there are relatively clear gaps between the three. The smart money would always go on Epsilon to beat Infused, and for Infused to beat CrackClan. No doubt they’d be exciting games to see unfold, but at the end of the day the same tale seems to get written time and time again as we saw in Excello Invite.

Beyond the titans, Karnage seem the only outfit with genuine potential to manifest into something greater than they currently are, but with the inexperienced likes of Leojan and Croaton this is not an improvement that can be expected overnight – as demonstrated by their debut triumph in the excello open cup, and the juxtaposed 6-1 6-1 thrashing they recieved from Infused in the first round of the subsequent invite cup.

Turning eyes toward the scrubs of the rankings, the main point of interest is the rise of Decerto. Whilst not there yet, consistantly good results against their peers and promising results against stronger opponents in practice environments show they are a team to look out for in the future.”

You’ll be able to catch more thoughts from our panel with VanillaTF2′s February Rankings in a few weeks time!