VanillaTF2

Torden — It’s been a hard struggle for TCM the past months. Having already lost/removed  Pena,  Flisko and  Antyy, ranks are thinning out, what could be the grand reunion last year’s near unbeatable team backfired. Haunter, Coinz and Skinnie quite openly abandoned ship last week, after internal disagreements. Additionally, super demo Kaidus reported to be having an unstable net.

The abandoning trio is still to be found on the ETF2L roster, but Byte’s description on his latest video leaves a pretty clear message:

TCM’s first week and probably last week playing in Season 10, due to insufficient players available at the top level since the bastardly departure by Coinz and thus leaving Skinnie/Haunter not wanting to continue! So I thought I’d record this and show you that despite using 3 merc’s as such (Zerox/Leon/Jan).

Bad news for season10, as we could be losing the 2nd finalist of the previous season. However, knowing the perseverance of Byte and manager Xman, we’ll be damned to be seeing the last of these thugs just yet!

I could chase nerds around, or I could just make a post, and let nerds come fourth. Being lazy, I went with the latter:

ButtonBashers
Stefan and Bash already left the ETF2L roster, and team leader Marco untagged on steam, as well as confirmed the fold on IRC. Reportedly, some of their players are hoping for the upcoming Brink to catch on. The news comes after several weeks of BB inactivity. Who will stay? Will Numlocked team up with remaining Epsilon players?

Crack Clan
Hykleri is back as scout, and Drosophile says on tf2.europe that he left the team

Codcrille
We already mentioned Codcrille (medic) looking for team mates in an earlier post. The plans seems to get a foothold, as he’s seen playing with former knights players Zebbosai (soldier) and Nor. Destructo (demo), Vadrigar (scout) and  Blade (soldier) has also been seen playing with them. What’s the deal, boys?

Update: Apparently, Zebbozai was a merc, and their main roster includes none other than former wotr player and pickup superhero, Nos.

Missed anything? Gief updates!

Anyone who feels the urge to type “tf2 is dead” in comments, is a vegetarian! – Torden

ESL’s third week will be wrapped up as of tonight, so why on earth am I writing these predictions today? Welcome to top level TF2, where we only play one game per week. And don’t start throwing i42 at me as an excuse, only one of the teams listed here actually attended. Top players are always complaining that there isn’t enough coverage for TF2, but you’re really not making it easy for us. Get your games scheduled and play them on time.

Read more for the predictions – honeymustard

Three week 1 games and one week 2 game – not the greatest combination of games played, but what can you expect from the premier division? We’re already on week 2 (though you wouldn’t know it – yes, saying this every week is going to get old), so let’s get some predictions into your eyeballs.

Read more for the predictions – Honeymustard

…nobody cba writing about:

Button Bashers: Thy (demo) left the ButtonBashers both on ETF2L and ESL, which suggests there’s more going on than a repeat of this year’s April fools joke. What’s going on?

Update: Loose gossip mentions Numlocked. Is this true???
Update: Havok joined the roster. Is bash going demo?

Epsilon: Cook (medic) and Haunter (soldier) have been seen playing steadily with Epsilon. Is this the final 6?

Codcrille, most known for his ventures with Broder last year (and his panda avatar) before disappearing into thin air, has resurfaced. His latest baby “Crescent Fresh” stars himself, on a quest for 5 prem team mates. Good luck!

Redcode: Picking up the pieces of last week’s drama (llama), the team has added Quad and Koeitje to their ESL roster.

Knights: Top scene old timer Honky (soldier) has found a new home with Shox‘ band of merrymen, after his former team Refuse went into retirement. The team already replaced Koeitje with Nor last week.

eSrael: Seen playing with former Yoyotech medic Royze against Dignitas last night. Where has Suni gone? Update: Confirmed replacement.

Princes/Blame: /Yoyotech. Congrats!

Missed anything? Statements, additional info? Comment that shit up!
- Torden

The long awaited ESL Season VII has finally begun, with 10 of the best European teams taking part, playing under a vanilla (+ medic) unlock ruleset. The festivities begin with Badlands and Gravelpit, two maps that will really test the teams. Badlands, is of course, a favourite amongst everyone, but Gravelpit will be a test for the multitude of new lineups. Interestingly, the only teams that return with the same lineup from ETF2L’s last season are Team Dignitas and Button Bashers. Gravelpit should certainly provide these teams with an advantage.

Read more for the predictions – Honeymustard

It’s that time again. Here are a couple of panel list round up arguements:

Kaidus

If you don’t play you don’t get paid, and the same can be said for how my rankings fall onto paper once again this month. Last time around a lot of jaws dropped at how some of the numbers turned out, but would you really prefer to see the same top five month in month out based on the reputation of players who’d rather opt out of every competition this month? I’d hope not.

Admirable

Ah I find my usual rhetoric of money talks troubling me again this month. ButtonBashers and Epsilon eSports scooped the big dough from under the Frogs noses at MaxLAN, and yet both teams fucked it up in the ESH. Granted ButtonBashers came up against a resurrected TCM-Gaming side eager to prove a point, but Epsilon were a shadow of their former selves losing to upstarts, Blame.

Get all the rest, over at Cadred.