VanillaTF2

Fog — Due to exams, I had not had the time to write my articles. So this week’s Power Rankings will not include predictions (they were terrible), with the roundup for week’s 4, 5, and 6 coming in the following days (Week’s 4 and 5 will be combined).

We’re now entering our 6th week of the ESEA-I Season, and with only two weeks to go in the season, Things are only heating up for the final LAN spot. Now, after this week, there will be a two week break from the 19th of December to the 1st of January which co-incides with various holidays. This week, matches are being played on a very new and interesting map in cp_standin_b5, created by scorpiouprising.

Standin is unique map, as it has the distinction of being the only map with all 3 capture points available to be capped at all times. It also introduces ESEA, and probably the rest of the competitive communities around the world with a new map type, Domination. Similar to Domination mode in Call of Duty games, teams must capture all three points to win the round. However, once a point is captured, it does not lock for the team and it is always available to capture (Like KOTH, but with 3 capture points). For teams to be successful on this map, The most important thing is actually understanding how this map works. Teams who play this map like a regular 5CP map or focus on DM over strategies are going to run into a lot of issues. Other things to consider on this map is the abundant flankings areas with the map’s multiple entrances and exits to points and spawn, and the extremely close proximty from spawn to B point. This map is the smallest map in rotation, making the gameplay very fast and full of action (Great for Spectators, not so great for players). 

Fog — It’s a sad day for the Team Fortress 2 community, with My Gaming Edge closing it’s doors after a year and a half online.

For those who were unaware of My Gaming Edge, MGE was a TF2 website created by CB, which brought content for those players who wanted to gain an edge and learn from the pros. My Gaming Edge also provided livestreams of ESEA matches and recently completed it’s first (and now only) MGE Cup, an off season tournament which pitted the best teams against eachother with the Open Bracket and the Invite Bracket. As of late, there has been less content coming from MGE, with CB stating in his statement that “it has become much more difficult in the recent months to get our pros to make videos in a timely manner and I hate to continue to push them to provide content when they simply no longer want to”.

The current ESEA-I Weekly Edge videos produced by My Gaming Edge will continue for the rest of the season, and ALL videos will be free to view for the next two weeks. The full statement is after the jump.

Fog — The week 4 matches have finally concluded, with week 5 matches starting tonight on cp_snakewater

Snakewater is a 5CP Standard Control Point map created by Chojje. This map has gone through serveral different revisions and release candidates, before landing on its final version. For a team to be effective on this map, they will have to be on constant alert with the map’s many entrances and exits to different points. Some notable examples include the dropdown between 1st and 2nd point, the window at 2nd, and the kitchen at middle point. Teams will also have to be aware of possible back-caps, as they are common-place on a map like Snakewater. The last points of this map are known for stalemates and slowness, however Chojje has improved the speed of the last point over serveral revisions of the map. Otherwise, this map plays like a standard 5CP map, which will be a welcomed change from the maps of Viaduct and Gravel Pit played in the past few weeks of the season.

In terms of roster changes this week, Bl4nk has left Snooplicity and has moved down to Open to play on ex-invite Medic Tragic’s team, which coincides with the pickup of Boomer last week. Other then that, the only noticable pickup was the return of scout great Ggglygy, however, his role is only a backup role, and not a starting role. Now on to the Power Rankings.

Fog — The week long Thanksgiving break is now over, with week 4 of ESEA-I going on.

This week’s matches are taking place on the always interesting cp_gravelpit. Gravel Pit is a 3CP Attack/Defend map, with the unique feature that both the A and B points of the map are able to be captured from the start of the round. Expect a lot of off-classing from the standard cookie cutter classes, with Engineer and Heavy on defense, and Sniper and Spy on offense being the most popular options. The map is a lot less focused on DM, and a lot more focused on strategies and key picks of utility classes. With Gravel Pit, most teams on defense barely focus their attention on the A point, and heavily fortifying the B point. However, this map is also prone to stalls as teams will wait for the perfect moment to strike, and can be very boring to watch as a spectator. For a team to be successful on Gravel Pit, practicing strategies on this map is key, as the teams who are not prepared to play this map will be destroyed.

There has been some shakeups with the teams and their rosters, the biggest one thus far is the folding of the beloved team The Spacewhales. The Spacewhales had a rough season thus far, being the only winless team in Invite. The team has had to play through different situations and circumstances, such as ricco not having power for an entire week, and the personal matters that forced rr- to miss the match vs. High Rollers Gaming TF2. To get more of an insight on the folding of The Spacewhales, I spoke with Zakirll, the former leader of the team.

Fog — As North American TF2 content hasn’t been covered as much as it should be, I will be taking charge of NA TF2 content, and will try my best to provide more covereage of TF2 across the pond. For now, I will be focusing on ESEA Invite (comparable to Premier for ETF2L).

Another week of matches have finished for ESEA Invite, with matches this week being played on koth_pro_viaduct_rc3. Where’s the second map, you may say? The North American TF2 scene only runs matches on one map per week, with teams playing two matches per week on the same map. It’s probably a good idea to go over the basic rules of ESEA while we’re early into the article for those who have never watched an ESEA (or NA TF2 match in general).

The rules:

• - First to 5 (4 in KOTH matches, 2 in Attack/Defend) wins the match
• - Two (2) 30 minute halves (20 minute halves for Attack/Defend)
• - Once a team has won 3 rounds (or after the time limit is reached), half-time commences and the teams switch sides
• - If both sides are tied after the two halves, an overtime round is played with the team winning that round winning the match (similar to golden-cap)
• - Unlocks are generally allowed (Gunboats and Equalizers ARE allowed), but there ARE weapons that are banned.

More info can be found here: ESEA Rules

Complexity Gaming, the prominent MGO of North America, has decided to stop supporting Team Fortress 2. Effective immediately, coL has released their TF2 roster. In it’s glory days, coL.TF2 went on undefeated rampage and was arguably the best TF2 in NA and one of the best in the world. coL actively supported it’s TF2 division and was one of the main teams which attended the ESEA LAN every season. Tragic event indeed and a huge blow to the North American TF2 scene.

Today we have decided that the time has come to release our Team Fortress 2 division.

Over the past couple years we have greatly enjoyed working with our TF2 gamers and participating in the community. We’d like to thank everyone who played for us during this period, with a special shoutout to Carnage who has been leader of the squad for some time. He will be remaining in the organization and assisting us with different projects.

Complexity.TF2 was -

• Daniel “Carnage” Sturdivant
• Carl “enigma” Yangsheng
• Kyle “relic” Mims
• Randy “blackymonster” Besserman
• Richard “sweater” Klekar
• Mike “Platinum” Miles
• Dustin “smaka” W
• Mithun “animeman” Balachadran

Here’s hoping an MGO steps to the plate and takes coL’s place. Best of luck to all involved!

And…

I had a fun time playing with everyone, I met a lot of cool people. Good luck to all players/teams in the future. I am done with “competitive” tf2.. im sure i’ll play a few pugs from time to time but don’t have the time to obligate myself to the game anymore – carnage

Update: According to oPlaiD

The team isn’t dead, they’re getting rid of Carnage and Relic and Smaka is leaving but the rest are sticking together and putting together a new lineup

- a.

With the ESEA Season 8 registration drawing to a close I travelled over to the land that is pug.NA to speak to a few of the North American players on what’s taking place in regards to rosters switches and first opinions on the teams that will do well this time around.

<atrox_> I was just wondering if I could get a comment on the new coL roster and what’s going to happen to your previous team blight?
<coL|blackymonster> well, the new coL roster is myself, sovereign (sweater), platinum, relic, carnage and enigma
<coL|blackymonster> my previous blight team is trying to get a new soldier and medic to replace myself and platinum

he also added when asked if there was any specific reasons for the org switch

<coL|blackymonster> not gunna talk about that
<coL|blackymonster> nothing to do with organizations :)

-By atrox_