VanillaTF2

dunc — Historically the summer i-series events have been both brilliant and disastrous for European TF2. The hype toward each event builds up and builds up, then the event is inevitably amazing, then there’s nothing to look forward to for the rest of the year.

i46 was the biggest and greatest of all of these summer events and as such it begs the question “What will happen to EU TF2 now?”.

As usual, I’m framing this article from a Premiership perspective. Sorry D4!

Fold, fold, fold?

Key

• [WTB] – “Want to buy”
• [M] – Moving
• [S] -Staying
• [Q] – Quitting
• [I] – Inactive

Epsilon [WTB 2-4]

F2 [M]
Playing scout with SDX in D2

 GeaR [S?]
Was originally going to quit, but ETF2L prize money and rules have lured him back!

 KnoxXx [S]
Europe’s worst soldier/best caller is moving to medic.

 Extremer [Q]
Embarrassed after his LAN performances, Extremer is off to play My Little Pony Online. Let’s hope there aren’t any offline tournaments.

 Stefan [S]
DON’T WORRY GUYS!! Epsilon are still here because Stefan is. Woohoo!

 Shintaz [Q]
Originally I think Shin was hoping that wltrs would stay with Epsilon and as such he’d be called up for LAN events. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’ll happen that way. Shin is far too cool for online competitive gaming so he’ll be playing pickups, mixes and publics with his circlejerk.

 TCM [WTB 5]

Byte [S]
I haven’t had a chance to talk to Byte but it looks like he’ll be staying with TCM and trying to put a new team together. Not sure who or what that will involve though.

 Zebbosai [M]
Although TCM brought him into the limelight, rumours are abound that Zebbosai simply couldn’t cope playing with Byte.

 hocz [I?]
Due to his three-shift work pattern, hocz won’t be able to play competitive TF2 for some time. He’ll probably end up playing with a lower division team as scout, or something – that seems to be the fashion!

 kaidus [M]
ETF2L’s demoman of the season is going to a new team. More information below.

 hymzi [Q]
If I had £1 for every time I’d heard that hymzi had quit TF2, I’d be a moderately wealthy individual. He’ll be back, mark my words.

 Rebeli [I?]
I’m sure Rebeli would carry on playing if the right team picked him up, but for now, he’s going inactive.

Infused [Fold]

dunc [Q]
I got into TF2 after a football injury and 4 years down the line it looks like I’ll never run again. That won’t stop me trying though – I’m getting into Table Tennis. I wonder if I can talk my way into Prem in that game too? I’ll stick around with TF2 and do some “ballsy” (read: hyperbolic) journalism.

 Hat [M]
I’m fairly sure Hat still wants to play TF2 but his future looks somewhat unknown. Real shame, best pocket I’ve played with since my eBoyfriend haza found himself a lady.

 Darn [M]
Rauli got sick of listening to English-speaking players and has decided to form himself a nearly-Scandinavian team.

 numlocked [M]
One of Europe’s best demomen deserves a home with one of Europe’s best teams. The real question is, how long will it be before he gets sick of playing 2 hours/evening with “boring” comms?

 cookye and bybben [M]
A scout partnership with immense potential, it looks like they’ll be staying together in a different team – unsurprisingly, Darn’s.

Notable others…

NITROSE are staying together I think. Keep going lads, keep pushing yourselves.

Mike will be moving. To bigger and hopefully better things. He might have to bite a bullet or two though, depending on the lineup he ends up with.

Gossip lineups

Epsilon

I can’t seem to fathom whether or not  wltrs and  GeaR are staying. I know for sure that cookye has turned them down despite playing a few games with them. The full whack of triallists include:

 Mike,  Hat,  Zebbosai,  tek,  numlocked,  cookye,  Flippy

The lineup I’d originally envisaged was UK boys Mike, Hat and numlocked. However, it’s now looking increasingly like the final lineup will be:

KnoxXx -> Mike & GeaR -> numlocked -> stefan & wltrs

I’d be glad to see GeaR stay in the scene as I generally believe him to be an underrated team player. Basically, the opposite of his new soldier partner. If Mike can drop pointless, age-old grudges and take a level or two off his ego this lineup could be blistering. Will numlocked’s deathmatch make up for the small areas that his game is lacking in comparison to the likes of kaidus and Randa? Will stefan still be instrumental in their victories and defeats?

 Team Darn

For a while it looked like the Scandinavians would be without a Prem-capable demoman. Original triallists included:

Darn,  Beavern,  cookye,  kaidus,  setlet,  Evilmoon,  Mirelin,  Zebbosai

Fortunately though it looks like kaidus is set to break free from TCM. Their final lineup will probably look something like:

Mirelin -> Darn & Zebbo -> kaidus -> cookye & bybben

Mirelin is a medic that I rate very highly although he’s had a long time away from the game now – over a year, I believe? Zebbosai and kaidus is a combination that will work powerfully in any lineup; their synergy and co-ordination (when on form) is immense. My worries for this team are two-fold, both based around TF2’s infamous Rauli “Darn” Savela: will kaidus’ unique, modern approach to the game cover up for Darn’s ancient, same-as-2007 tactics? Will Zebbosai and Darn work as a soldier partnership when neither appears to have ability as a pocket soldier? Let’s hope Mirelin’s dodging is as good as it used to be!

It’s also worth nothing that Darn was the main point of communication with Dignitas. Someone has to bankroll (© ShoX) Darn’s LAN events, so let’s hope it’ll be another superb organisation like Dignitas.

 PunchLine

All throughout i46 it appeared to be a foregone conclusion that our favourite Frenchies would be folding. Both tek and Flippy were trialling for Epsilon but despite the latter top-fragging two games (that I saw), neither appears to have made it into the final Epsilon lineup. As such, they’ll be continuing with their mid-Prem lineup of:

 k3 ->  CaptainHax &  tek -> Flinn -> Flippy & PlaPla

Crack! Clan

cc// just haven’t been the same since they lost Royze as medic. This time round though they’ve brought in Europe’s biggest forehead (followed shortly thereafter by AdmirableJr AKA  crouton) to medic. Fadestep is quitting TF2 soon allegedly and names that have been mentioned as replacements include  quad and  BeaverN.

 Admirable ->  matnuN &  ipZ ->  Retsh0ck ->  smzi &  Fadestep

If smzi can step his game up and stop making excuses4bad, this team could be a solid mid-Prem lineup. If they manage to recruit a player like BeaverN, they might even go further.

TwistedPlay

It looks like the original circlejerk will be coming back with their age-old lineup of:

 benscrzy ->  Plumb3d &  boomeh ->  Sonix ->  nvc &  Greg

I love these guys and wish them the best of luck. Josh, keep your fucking hacks off you mong.

Team skeej

Uber-timing-extraordinaire Skeej is trying to get a team together potentially including:

Brego,  Luzzu,  Grandma,  Septique,  ReveraL and/or  Nace.

Brego is, in my book, probably the third best demoman in Europe. He has very little experience at the top level but his deathmatch is second only to numlocked. If he improves his English and increases his awareness he might well carry this lineup to a mid-table Premiership debut.

Leagues and LANs

One of the main problems we have after summer events is that the Community gets a bit emo and struggles to follow up on the hype and brilliance of our most recent LAN. This time though, it looks like that might just change.

ETF2L

For Season 13, ETF2L appointed  Admirable in a Premiership Ambassador’s role. He took time to speak to each of the Premiership teams before i46 and put their ideas to the ETF2L admin team.

It looks like such a ploy has worked, and ETF2L – bless their brilliant cotton socks – have improved the map pool and kept the unlock rules the same.

Although that in its own right is excellent news, an unknown anonymous benefactor has donated 2500€ for a prize pool. These three things are basically all the Premiership teams have been asking for season after season so thank you ETF2L!!

Dreamhack

It’s not time to get excited just yet, but Yank-sending powerhouse Salamancer has been trying to get involved with Dreamhack. Some time ago I tried and failed, mostly due to being without internet for nearly 8 whole months (thanks BT) but I’m confident that with the right approach Dreamhack isn’t out of TF2’s grasp.

i49 and the Americans

I know it’s a long time away, but we’ve already got ideas for getting the Americans back to England for next year’s summer event. AcidReniX suggested that we speak to Valve and design a “donation” item which players can buy. God knows what that would be or what it would entail, but to me it sounds like a great way to get donations started already. It might also encourage public players to enquire about exactly why the item exists – and maybe even watch the incredible i46 finals.

Conclusion

If this is yet another tl;dr, I do apologise. All you basically need to read is this:

European TF2 is not dead!