The results of the first 3 rounds have left us with the following matchups:

High Bracket

SNSD v  Colony

Mid Bracket

  GFM Highlander team v  Free Fire

Low Bracket

  Gibs \’R\ Us’ v  The Low-Fi High-Five Team

Congratulations to those teams and thank you for everyone who took part tonight, please remember to give your feedback in this thread.

The maps for the Final are currently – cp_upland_rc2, cp_foundry and ctf_turbine_pro_rc1 as the decider map. The final will be played in a best of 3 maps format.

Due to the amount of default wins on pl_barnblitz, we will give teams the option to replace either cp_upland or cp_foundry with pl_barnblitz for the final providing both teams agree to swap one of these maps. The decider map (if required) will be ctf_turbine_pro_rc1. Please make sure you make a note of the maps you have decided  to play on the match page. Teams will have until Sunday 19th February to play their matches.

Season 11 Playoffs

Playoffs will be held between March 18th and March 31st. Write it down, cancel all other engagements, consider yourselves notified.

Premier Division Playoffs

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

Yet More Bans

The following players have been banned:

• Fix – Wallhack; Triggerbot – 1 year ban
• HaKo – Aimbot; nospread – 1 year ban
• Ghost7 – alt account of HaKo – 1 year ban

Gullywash

Season 11 Playoffs

Playoffs will be held between March 18th and March 31st. Write it down, cancel all other engagements, consider yourselves notified.

Premier Division Playoffs

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

High Bracket
 Trying to get good
clanda
Forced Anal Penetration
 Minimoosegamer.eu

Low Bracket
Everyone Wants a Piece of Muffin
Five ants are more than four elephants!
Greatest gamers
Spade

Ban

Unfortunately, not everything went smoothly. Someone found it necessary to disturb a running official match. The following player is now banned from all ETF2L matches until the end of season 11:

• Rad – Interfering with a match – 3 month ban

Season 11 Playoffs

Playoffs will be held between March 18th and March 31st. Write it down, cancel all other engagements, consider yourselves notified.

Premier Division Playoffs

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

Highlander

Signups are still open for the Experimental Highlander Cup #1. If you’re looking for a fun Thursday night and would like to contribute to the Season 2 map selection process, this is the place to be!

That’s all for now.

The  Season 11 tables are now final. Some teams told us they were dropping and we replaced them with teams from the waiting list. Check out your fixtures if you want to know if you are one of them.

Please start scheduling your matches right now! You can still join the waiting list here. There is a good chance that some teams will be dropping in the next two to three weeks and we will need replacement teams. All team leaders of teams that are replacing a dropped team from now on will receive an email reminding them.
We decided to move back week 1 by one week which gives you some more days to schedule your week 1 match. The first default dates will be set on Friday, January 27, so make sure to have your match scheduled by then. To not delay the season any further, there will be no catch-up week, so make sure to play all of your matches by Saturday, March 17 2012. You can, however, start playing right now, in “week 0″, if you are afraid that you will not manage to play all your matches until then.
This will not affect the playoff schedule, which stays as follows:

Playoffs

Playoffs will be held between March 18th and March 31st. Write it down, cancel all other engagements, consider yourselves notified.

Premier Division Playoffs

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

Rule changes

You can relax, the foundry rule is dead – cp_foundry will no longer be mandatory decider map for all playoffs. Instead, cp_freight_final1 will be cut for the playoffs which means that only five maps are left in the pool. Please use the map elimination system to pick two home maps and one decider.

The map pool for all playoff matches is:

• cp_badlands
• cp_granary
• cp_gullywash_final1
• cp_snakewater
• cp_gravelpit

Spike Himself is awesome

One of the rule changes we were trying to implement before the Season started was to let every match be wildcarded once by each team (in other words: both teams can wildcard a match, providing they still have a wildcard to spend). We were unsure if it would be implemented before Week 1, but Spike Himself managed to sort it out in time.

Each wildcard removes the schedule for a given match and gives teams the next 14 days, starting at the moment the wildcard was used, to reschedule. Default dates will still be set for wildcarded matches 7 days before the deadline is met. Make sure to hug Spike Himself if you meet him (but don’t add him on Steam like last time ¬.¬).

Voilà. A link to the feedback thread can be found below.

S11 Map Schedule

• Week 1 – cp_badlands and cp_snakewater
• Week 2 – cp_snakewater and cp_gullywash_final1
• Week 3 – cp_gullywash_final1 and cp_freight_final1
• Week 4 – cp_freight_final1 and cp_granary
• Week 5 – cp_granary and cp_badlands
• Week 6 – cp_badlands and cp_gravelpit
• Week 7 – cp_gravelpit and cp_gullywash_final1

Playoffs

Playoffs will be held between March 18th and March 31st. Write it down, cancel all other engagements, consider yourselves notified.

Premier Division Playoffs

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

Changes to the Rules

In preparation for Season 11 we have updated the etf2l config and had a look over the rules. Some rules are still being discussed, any further changes we make will be announced at a later date.

Config changes

sv_restrict_aspect_ratio_fov 0 has been added

Comments have been added to various parts of the config, to clarify the purpose of commands where we feel it necessary.

You can download the config here. The config is always available on the rules page.

Rules changes – League rules:

• Updated to Season 11 Rules – Title, map pool, map schedule.
• Banned the Bombinomicon

General Rules:

• Edited: 1.4, 3.2, 3.8

• 1.4 Use the match comments to record agreements on mercs, servers and other cases

  We encourage using the match comments to keep in touch with an opponent. Any agreement between two teams regarding the use of mercs or servers must be recorded on the relevant match page. If anything requires verification it MUST be documented either by a screenshot of the original conversation or by leaders from both teams providing confirmation in the match comments.

  If your opponent allows a merc, you are expected to extend the same courtesy to them.

  3.2 Status & Scoreboard screenshots required

  One member of each team has to take a status screenshot before a match is starting and after every player switch. A screenshot of the final score has to be taken at the end of every map/round. Please note that a scoreboard screenshot is not sufficient for all attack/defense maps as it does not show the winner – the screenshot explicitly declaring one team to be the winner is required instead. When submitting the result, a team leader has to upload all relevant screenshots.
  If one or more score screenshots are still missing after one week, and the result has not been verified by the teams, both teams will receive a minor warning.
  Missing status screenshots will be awarded with a minor warning no matter if the result has been verified by the teams. The second violation of this rule will be punished with a major warning and one point deduction.

  3.8 Teams may request a pause if problems occur

  Teams may request a pause at any time during a match. Reasons for pausing can include:

  - Player drop

  - Server problems

  - The match is unplayable due to network issues

  If you need to pause, you must clearly request a pause and give a reason for it (for example: “Pause please, player drop”). The other team is then required to pause at the first appropriate time (e.g. not in the middle of a push). Teams must pause within 15 seconds of being asked. Not responding to a pause request will lead to penalties like a minor warning accompanied with the forfeit of the round in question, or, in extreme cases, a major warning and forfeit of the map.

  You may not resume the game under any circumstances without giving proper warning to the other team.

  Each team has the right to one pause per map.

  A pause may not last longer than 5 minutes.

  If your opponent allows a pause longer than 5 minutes or more than one pause you are expected to extend the same courtesy to them.

• Added: 6.5, all of 7.

• 6.5 VAC Bans

  As of March 15, 2012, any player with a VAC ban on the Source engine will be banned for 1 year. Players with VAC bans that do not apply to Team Fortress 2 will not be affected. Players receiving VAC bans before March 15, 2012 will not be affected.

  7. Admins

  7.1 Requesting admin help

  To request help from an admin or to file a match complaint, please join our IRC channel #etf2l on quakenet, type !admin and wait for the next free admin to respond. Please do not add admins on Steam to ask questions or directly query them on IRC.
  If you do not have an IRC client installed on your pc you may use our webchat plugin.

  7.2 Admins on the staff page

  All active admins are shown at the staff page. When requesting help from an admin on IRC you may specify for which competition you need an admin, e.g. !admin highlander or !admin 6v6

  7.3 Admin discretion

  The ETF2L rules are enforced at the discretion of the admin team. Any complaints will be judged on a case-by-case basis and different punishments may be handed out in each case.

Feedback

As always we appreciate any feedback you can give us. Post your thoughts on the rules, unlocks, provisional divisions and the poll system in the appropriate thread.

Poll 1

• Badlands – 946 – 92%
• Gullywash – 921 – 90%
• Granary – 802 – 78%
• Snakewater – 760 – 74%
• Freight – 511 – 50%
• Gravelpit – 503 – 49%
• Foundry – 460 – 45%
• Obscure – 424 – 41%
• Croissant – 256 – 25%
• Bazillion – 198 – 19%

Total voters – 1,024

Secondly (and more importantly), the remade poll featuring turbine and viaduct after their initial exclusion was questioned:

Poll 2:

• Badlands – 1074 – 90%
  
• Gullywash – 1055 – 88%
  
• Granary – 954 – 80%
  
• Snakewater – 836 – 70%
  
• Freight – 632 – 53%
  
• Gravelpit – 601 – 50%
• Foundry – 505 – 42%
• Turbine – 465 – 39%
• Viaduct – 443 – 37%

Total voters – 1,195

Users who voted in the second poll:

• 1 answer – 13 – 1%
• 2 answers – 12 – 1%
• 3 answers – 35 – 3%
• 4 answers – 90 – 8 %
• 5 answers – 209 – 17%
• 6 answers – 836 – 70%

So there you have it. The Season 11 Map Pool is:

S11 Map Pool

• cp_badlands
• cp_gullywash_final1
• cp_granary
• cp_snakewater
• cp_freight_final1
• cp_gravelpit

The 7th map, cp_foundry, will be the decider map in any and all Season 11 playoffs. This means that during the map-pick/elimination phases, teams only need to pick 2 maps rather than 3.

Playoffs

Playoffs will be held between March 18th and March 31st. Write it down, cancel all other engagements, consider yourselves notified.

Premier Division Playoffs

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

Staff Changes

Our lead Anti-Cheat admin octochris has decided to call it a day on TF2, again. Chris had a great impact on the team when joining 3 months ago, and since then has been a valuable asset and contributor to various staff discussions. We thank him for his hard work and wish him the best in his future endeavours.

Consequently, this leaves hys on his lonesome on the Anti-Cheat team. If you think you can replace Chris, or that you can help us out on the Anti-Cheat team, please send an email to staff@etf2l.org, telling us who you are, why you want to join us and why you think you would be any good.

Signups are open! for our 11th glorious season of 6v6!

Teams signing up should specify which division they would prefer to be placed in using the handy dropdown menu (now with added “prem”).

Teams requesting any division higher than 6 should be prepared to provide evidence to support their ability, whether it’s a long-standing pedigree or a boatful of screenshots from recent results. Such boats should be uploaded to one place like imgur, and the link should be sent in an email to staff@etf2l.org, along with details of who you are and what division you are requesting.

Map Poll

Yesterday we opened the map vote for Season 11. The feedback we received had many cries for turbine and viaduct to have been in the poll, so after receiving 1,024 votes we have closed the poll and had a discussion. The following poll is the result. We have eliminated the bottom 3 maps from the previous poll (Obscure_final, Croissant and Bazillion) and replaced them with koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 and ctf_turbine_pro_rc1. Like last time, please vote for the maps you would like to see in Season 11.

Please note: Voters do not need to pick 6 maps, 6 is just the maximum. If for example you only want to vote for 4 maps, pick those 4 and submit your vote. The final map pool will, however, contain 6 maps.

Turbine_pro rules proposal:

“ESL rules” – Best of 3 rounds, timelimit 10, capturelimit 5. Rounds ending without a clear winner are ignored.

Pro_viaduct rules proposal:

Best of 5 (winlimit 3), timelimit 0.

Schedule

• Map pool finalised: Thursday (at the latest)
• Signups open: Now!
• Signups close: Sunday, January 15 (Waiting list will still be open for signups)
• Provisional Divisions out: Next week
• Week 1 start: January 22nd

Playoffs

Playoffs will be held between March 18th and March 31st. Write it down, cancel all other engagements, consider yourselves notified.

Premier Division Playoffs

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

Rule Changes

We’re working on a number of minor improvements to our league rules. These will be explained in detail in a separate post to come soon.

Highlander Tiebreakers

Our first Highlander Season has finished, which brings us to the tiebreaker games. Teams that are tied on points for first place need to play a best-of-three maps match to determine who is to be promoted from their respective divisions. Maps should be chosen from the Season 1 Map Pool.

The following Highlander matches must be played in the next 2 weeks:

• Division 4F
  • Guru training with Yoda vs Man1a Crew
• Division 5C
  • Kazminators vs Manchester United
• Division 5E
  • Furious Wookiez vs Spice Marines Extreme Culinary Squad
• Division 6B
  • The Magnificent Nine vs Freefrag Frag Bag
• Division 6D
  • FREE 2 GAY vs Vanilla Existence
• Division 6E
  • Foust team vs Orbit Fruittini

After the resounding success of Season 10!, we are delighted to announce a sequel, originally titled Season 11!

The Season 11 format will probably be a lot like that of Season 10!. We will of course announce any changes for the new season as soon as we decide what they may be. For the moment, we’d like to hear what you think the map pool should be.

Presenting: The Season 11 Map Pool Poll!

Please note: Voters do not need to pick 6 maps, 6 is just the maximum. If for example you only want 4 maps, pick those 4 and submit your vote.

Poll closed for now, stay tuned!

Season 10! Awards!

The deadline has now passed, the polls are closed. The winners of the remaining awards are:

• Demoman of the Season: numlocked
• Upcoming Talent of the Season:  wwww
• Fairplay Award:  Team Infused

Wireplay!

Just in case that wasn’t enough TF2 for you, our friends at Wireplay are announcing their own Season 10! You can find more information on their medlocks and mapvotes here.

Another Highlander Reminder

The deadline for all Highlander Season 1 matches is tonight! Tomorrow, all unplayed matches will be closed and neither team involved will receive points. Any necessary tiebreaker matches will also be announced tomorrow.

Last night we held what seems to have been the largest one-night competition in TF2 history! 80 teams were placed into brackets of 16 and gave Valve’s latest map a thorough workout. Winning was not the main objective, but since we all love a shiny trophy, here is the list of winners:

• Highest Bracket:
  • Team YoYoTech
  • Karnage eSports
  • elemental violence
  • ISIS
• High Bracket:
  • Team Useless
  • dashfire
  • SexyGamers
  • no name yet
• Low Bracket:
  • Team iLuminate
  • nervousENERGY Green
  • G7 eSports
  • Team Colonslash: Reditio
• Lowest Bracket:
  • Young Men
  • Zaparit
  • Extreme Tambourine Players
  • Deadly touch

The Mid bracket suffered a few delays which resulted in the final and one semi-final not being played. We have allowed the teams involved to find some time in the very near future to play their matches and conclude what was overall a great event.

Some Season 10! Awards

After 5 days and around 800 votes each, we are ready to announce winners for most of the Season 10! Awards. Some of the polls are still close – we will keep those polls open until Sunday. The following winners received over 50% of the votes, so we are happy to declare them early:

• Scout of the Season: Schocky
• Soldier of the Season: Mike
• Medic of the Season: F2
• Off-classer of the Season: wltrs
• MVP of the Season: Schocky
• Best Premier Division Debut of the Season: quad
• Most Surprisingly Good Team of the Season: Crack Clan

The rest of the polls are still very close! Make sure you had your say!

The signups for the open tournament, held on Monday, January 9, are open from now on until the check-in starts. The maximum slots are 64. If it becomes conceivable that there will not be significantly more than 32 signups, the slots will be reduced to 32. Keeping 64 slots means the first round starts with the recently added official new 5cp map cp_foundry. Reducing the slots to 32 means the first round will start with cp_granary, the second features cp_badlands and so on.

The list of the invited teams for the invitational bracket that will be played on Monday, January 16 is:

• 1 Epsilon eSports
• 2 Infused.Tt eSports
• 3 Crack Clan
• 4 Relic
• 5 CKRAS Gaming
• 6 broder
• 7 Team Yoyotech
• 8 Exotic

For any questions or remarks feel free to contact CanFo, Crasp, huhy or SonnyBlack on #excello.tf2 / quakenet or leave a comment on this post.

For more information please see the original newspost at excello.net or head over to VanillaTF2.org.

Reminders

• Bear in mind that all matches from the highlander season 1 have to be played until Sunday, January 8 (January 9 for US divisions)
• Remember to give your vote for the 6v6 Season 10! awards
• Sign up for the foundry one-night-cup on Thursday, January 5