Nations’ Cup: Sign Ups open today!

Date August 23, 2009

As announced earlier, sign-ups for our upcoming Nations’ Cup open today at 20:00 CEST. Any national team which represents a country and that can field a team is welcome to enter. You can sign up to the group phase the usual way. In the group phase teams will be divided by their skill level, which prevents the top teams from eliminating each other in the group phase. The size and amount of groups will be determined by the amount of participating nations.

The teams will have one month to complete all their group phase matches, from 1st September to 1st October. After that, the best teams from each group will advance to the playoff stage.

The first prize for this tournament is 6x SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Mouse, the second prize is 6x SteelSeries 4HD Mousemat!

Schedule

  • Signups open: TODAY, 20:00 CEST – [Sign Up]
  • Signups close: 30 August, 23:59 CEST
  • Group stage starts: 1 September
  • Group stage ends: 1 October
  • Playoff stage starts: 2 October

Rules

The normal ETF2L rules I’m sure you are familiar with will apply for this competition. If not, you can read them here: [Link] Note: rules on spy/sniper unlocks, as well as the Force-a-nature are subject to change, pending the current polls on the subject. These will be updated before the competition starts.

The special rules and guidelines of this competition can be found here [Link]. Below you can find the most important ones.

  • During a match, a national team cannot field more than 3 players from the same team.
  • A national team has to consist of at least 7 players.
  • The played maps can be changed to include the winner of our mapping contest. Any changes will happen before the competition starts.

87 Comments

  1. refuze: ppb:H: said:

    FIRST

  2. chocolatE :> said:

    portugal alezz!

  3. che: fa» - [SpA] said:

    During a match, a national team cannot field more than 3 players from the same team.
    For every nation? Or only the top teams?
    I feel bad for Luxembourg.

  4. appe said:

    I don’t. It’s a perfectly fine rule.

  5. Electro: Got Milk? said:

    Good luck for every team, hoping for an exciting cup.

  6. DouGie: CotC said:

    gl everyone…..

    especially Ireland xD

  7. Swiss Cheese: ‹Con› said:

    lol appe, you only say that cause you want to fuck up Belgium :))

  8. Agron: Relic said:

    tbh the player limit 3 from the same team has to apply to everyone if it’s going to be used…

    that said, gl hf to everyone.

  9. DeNeusbeer: (Legend) - HoT<3 said:

    There will be no exceptions this time.

  10. appe said:

    I say that because it’s the standard in pretty much every game :D

  11. flix: n2o said:

    During a match, a national team cannot field more than 3 players from the same team.

    +1

  12. kyd said:

    gl every1
    this is going to be interesting

  13. julieN1: cQr said:

    if some one wants to play with more than 3 players from the same team, they just have to quit the team, play and then get back on the team, big deal.

  14. che: fa» - [SpA] said:

    tbh, the season has not started, so that could solve problems :P

    anyway I still dont see the sense of the rule in the first place.
    its a team game and if 4 or more players fit perfect together because of the clan, why not?
    The leader surely will be confronted with criticism of his country mates if he fails
    because he rather sends his clan mates in the match than other players.

    You should (if you can) read the german flam and hate wars only for the federal states teams in a cup we made some weeks ago and also the vote for the national team captain wasnt 100% nice.

  15. Nigh: ¿ - TF2.ro said:

    During a match, a national team cannot field more than 3 players from the same team.

    Intresting that most people in my team are clanless. xD

  16. Thanatos said:

    During a match, a national team cannot field more than 3 players from the same team.

    Looks like Spain will not play this nations.

    We did our team a month ago, I asked about this rule before do it and I got no answer.

    It was and it’s a pain in the ass make a team thinking about the 4 guys from the same team rule… now it’s 3.

    Have fun.

  17. GeaR: Epsilon said:

    On the one hand I can understand this rule but on the other I think it’s not fair for some teams.
    Maybe increase it to 4 players.

  18. Pigi: [imP] - LAMA said:

    tf2nations – no limit for players from same clan
    etf2l – no more than 3 players from same clan

    So what now? 2 different lineups one for each cup? I think, eam Czech republic can accept this rule, but we made our team monhts ago. So our current lineup did not respect this rule and is no time for rebuilding whole team. So please, change that rule or remove it.

  19. forcenet: CZetaX Delta - [CZetaX] said:

    4 might be maybe acceptable but 3 is just a mess

  20. Extremer said:

    “tbh the player limit 3 from the same team has to apply to everyone if it’s going to be used…

    that said, gl hf to everyone.”

    You only say that because that’s the only way you’ll get to play for team Finland.

    HEY-OH!

  21. skinnie: TCM said:

    max 3 from a team -> this isn’t counterstrike or w/e tf2 has a small community and this rule shouldnt be applied in tf2 tbh

    a national team should consist simply of the best players from that nation .

    now we have to change line-ups between etf2l and the tf2nations.eu nations cup (if we enter the etf2l one )

  22. Pigi: [imP] - LAMA said:

    as Skinnie sayd: “IF we enter etf2l one”

  23. Mikey said:

    Imo a national team should consist of the best players…

  24. fer0: Enrique Iglesia said:

    !CZECH and SLOVAK! go go go…

  25. beta: RaWr :: said:

    2 player limit I reckon

  26. TANC_Warmaster: -[MG]- - HL said:

    In fact, players in a team aren’t allowed to play at all!

  27. N3ro: ]DAU[ said:

    Help Luxembourg in this Days, we cant take a part of the league because we just have 2 players from luxembourg who played for another Team that is bad….
    Im rly sad but this is life!
    Cya maybe in the next Nations Cup…..

  28. The Best Medic In The World said:

    just ban all div 1-2 players for participating k? :D

    lolz, what a joke etf2l… :|

  29. AcidReniX: RaWr :: said:

    The reason why the rule is put in place is obvious.

    Just say at least 4 of your countries best players all play for the best clan. In that same clan are 5 other players of the same nationality.

    First you take the top 4 players

    Then you have a choice.

    – Take 2 players from a diferent team (skill level: 8/10)
    – Take 2 players from that same clan (skill leve: 7/10)

    The 2 players from the same clan will have played with those 4 best players day in day out. They will allready know what each other is doing, know their team work, know how each other plays. Would you want to lose that over a minor skill difference?

    The answer in most cases is no. So all that happens is the Nations Cup tournament becomes a clan vs clan tournement under different tags, with a few exceptions. It makes the competition very boring.

    It is fun to see how teams of completely different players, all from the same country ‘Gel’ together to form a national team.

    At the same time I do understand that you also want to have your best national team available, but it’s much nicer to have a competition that isn’t just clans competing against each other with a merc or 2.

  30. Pigi: [imP] - LAMA said:

    AcidRenix: good point, but now we got 2 different NCs and the etf2l one looks like tournament for mixs of players from same country, no more than 3 from same team. Men, this tournament should be Nations Cup.
    And remember holidays. Lot of players are inactive during this time. So, it is very hard, for small countries, to change their lineups in last minute.

  31. Thanatos said:

    Acid, you are wrong, it’s:

    First you take the top 4 players (I couldn’t, most of them were/are in summer holidays = inactive until September).

    Then you have a choice.

    – Take 2 players from a different team (skill level: 4/10)
    – Take 2 players from that same clan (skill level: 7/10)

    Btw I asked admins a month ago about the team limit rule and I got no answer.

    Just piss off spend your time asking the admins about the rule and then when the Nations is about to start you see how it changes.

    That’s all…

  32. Syr said:

    I agree with the rule, because it should be nations cup…
    But if your nations setup has more than 3 players from the same clan what’s the problem? Just tell someone to temporarily leave the clan…

  33. DoN_CORL3onE: Impact - #PDW said:

    I agree with this rule, but i think there should be some exceptions for nations which have 2 or 3 clans.

  34. Pigi: [imP] - LAMA said:

    main problem isnt this rule at all i guess, main problem is time between announcement and start this cup. And leaving clan just for this rule is stupidity

  35. Thanatos said:

    Pigi +1

  36. Nigh: ¿ - TF2.ro said:

    +1 pigi :P

  37. Team Fortress 2 Romania said:

    Nations cup…

    In momentul actual exista 2 Cupe ale natiunilor, una din partea Eurokrieg si alta din partea ETF2L.
    ……

  38. Gaile: fap said:

    go italy!

  39. skinnie: TCM said:

    arx you are wrong cause this lowers the competition

    the top nations have a large pool of good players to choose from (unlike some small nations who could deliver a good fight without this rule)

  40. RaCio: GoT² said:

    “main problem isnt this rule at all i guess, main problem is time between announcement and start this cup.”

    This rule was also there in the previous nations cup so dont start whining now.
    That said, there should be thought about an exception for some countries.

  41. Pigi: [imP] - LAMA said:

    RaCio: u r wrong, in the previous nations Cup was limit = 4. That will be more acceptable than 3

  42. Koeitje: AUTOBOTS said:

    This screws up small nations big time. The reason this rule mainly exists is because of sweden & finland. Lets not fuck over smaller nations that want to compete, and esp. those that stand not chance at winning anything anyways. Nations that can only have like 1 possible line-up should be excluded from this rule.

  43. aves said:

    last time a certain nation became second because of that rule exception (and luck with the brackets :D )
    so i agree with agron
    either treat every nation equal or dont bring that rule on the table at all

  44. GibbZ: WOOOOO! said:

    Now team kazakhstan is fucked.

  45. julieN1: cQr said:

    oh shi-

  46. skinnie: TCM said:

    lol aves last nations cup we had 3 or 4 from Vale at that time so we didn’t even need that exception :) neither do we need it now as arnold isn’t playing for Vale anymore

    and ye we became 2nd just because of that rule exception (?! :D) and luck with the brackets

    so bitter :)

  47. aves said:

    We decided for the following team/member rule for National Team’s roster:

    * “A national team can field a maximum of 3 players of 1 team at a time.”
    * “A national team must field members of at least 3 different teams.” (Exception for smaller countries will be worked out)

    you played with skinnie arnold matt springer
    do your homework next time

  48. skinnie: TCM said:

    u seem like a crazy fanboy aves :D

    u know the belgian team better than myself

  49. aves said:

    sorry that i actually got a brain and can remember some things :-(

  50. Crunchy said:

    wales = small nation, and we’ve done fine =)

  51. Thanatos said:

    Ofc Crunchy, cos there aren’t teams from wales…

  52. Agron: Relic said:

    “You only say that because that’s the only way you’ll get to play for team Finland.”

    err, no I said it because double standards in rules are ghey.

    WIthout the rule, Finland would still field a team with some cracks, some diggys, some afterlifers and the coolmaster Haza. (for example). We dont need the rule to form a “mixed” national team, we’ll have players whoa are avail. playing the games anyway.

    Imo the rule could be removed all together. But if it’s not, it has to apply to every team. end.

    ps. stop trying to be funny. You’re not.

  53. Admirable: (Toucan Ambassador) said:

    Odd rules!
    Will surely create more problems than it solves.
    Could be quite frustrating to have to forfeit a game because of this rule.

  54. Jones said:

    The rule should either stand for all teams, or not stand at all.

    IMO clan limit 3 should be off. Its far to easy to evade and will cause a shit load of friction.

  55. Arnold: DAKKA said:

    nations cup = the best possible lineup a country can deliver. It doesn’t really matter if they were in the same team beforehand since it’s still the best of one nation against the other.

    If you want a cup of which you can predict the finalists from the start, go ahead and keep this rule.

    (and i agree on it being applied to everybody or not at all)

  56. appe said:

    So you guys want a Fun Cup where you replace clan names/logos with nations/flags. Imagine a Counter-Strike nations cup with your rules, it’d be Team Denmark mTw: Sunde, zonic, ave, mJe, whimp against Team Sweden fnatic: GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, dsn, cArn, GuX. Let’s not forget Team Poland WICKED: Neo, Taz, LUq, loord, kuben.

    OH YEAH.

  57. aves said:

    you forgot MOUSESPORTS !

  58. Jones said:

    lol i think we are trying to imagine a TF2 cup with these rules.

    Also, as far as the top teams go, only 2 teams that i can think of – belgium and russia will be affected by this. Finland and Sweden, the favourites wont be. Any rational possibilities to increase the competition should (imo) be taken.

  59. appe said:

    Maybe sweden and finland should be forced to play with 5 players?

  60. skinnie: TCM said:

    (belgium isn’t affected by this rule)

    unlike in cs, tf2 mostly has multinational teams and has far less good players to pick from so comparing those games is kinda useless

  61. gryzor said:

    Still, Skinnie, it’s NATIONS cup, not “multi-clanwar with different names” :)

  62. beta: RaWr :: said:

    Just fyi: I won’t get into team England but I am half Italian so if Team Italy need players now, let me know ;-D

  63. Pigi: [imP] - LAMA said:

    with this rule or not, just let us know in right time. thats all. few days before start isnt right time.

  64. skinnie: TCM said:

    ye NATIONS CUP, not a halfbaked mix of div1 and then some div4/5/6 players cause of some unnecessary rule :)

  65. The Best Medic In The World said:

    i dont get it…. most of participants say this is retarded but etf2l aint gonna change anything?

  66. gryzor said:

    Major participants was asked before this was announced and they agreed/gave their consent, it was not something we came up with out of the blue and forced upon people.

  67. forcenet: CZetaX Delta - [CZetaX] said:

    “major participants”
    oh I guess I get it now

    perhaps rename the competition to “major participants cup” cuz all the “major participants” (maybe excepting belgium) couldn’t care less about this rule as it doesn’t mess up their lineup.. what a surprise

  68. gryzor said:

    forcenet: Oh you do? Then, please explain to me how to better balance it so it still is a NATIONS cup while still making sure most NATIONS can still play by providing a FAIR maximum number of players from each clan? In theory, a NATION only needs two clans, with 3 players from each clan to participate in the NATIONs cup. Anything else would make it as described and discussed above.

    Ofcourse some “one country – one clan” nations will be “upset” or think it’s “unfair”, but it’s either that small amount of people unhappy/refusing to understand, or full-blown div1/2 clans participating and the whole idea behind the NATIONS cup is kind of lost. The affected countries can happily represent their country in the league by requesting a name-change of their clan to me on IRC, let’s make it something along the lines of “WE’RE ALL FROM (COUNTRY)!” or “GO (COUNTRY)!”.

    Perhaps not.

    Or, we can just accept the facts above and hope for a really exciting nations cup. I’m fully aware that “other” cups do not have this rule, while I do not understand the reasoning behind their decision, the reasoning behind ETF2L:s is printed here over and over. This REASONING was what was “checked” first, not some conspiracy plot against countries with one team. You are free (and welcome) to disagree with our reasoning, but hopefully you can understand and accept it.

    After all, this is not some strange group of people whose end-goal is to think of new ways to make peoples online-gaming experience as miserable and painful as possible, it’s to keep the various leagues and cups restricted (or a better word might be focused) and aimed towards their respective intended audiences.

  69. forcenet: CZetaX Delta - [CZetaX] said:

    long story short, you were choosing from these two

    1]
    limit 3
    +no risk of having “clan vs. clan” matches
    —completely fucks over many (mostly lower tier and/or small) nations
    by fucking over I mean taking away all chance of putting up a good fight they would otherwise have

    2]
    no limit
    +++doesn’t completely fuck over anyone AT ALL
    -a high tier country or two might form a one-clan team
    of course lower tier countries would too but that’s not a “-” since you don’t see such matches all the time in div1/2 so it doesn’t make the cup “less interesting”.. right?

    it all depends on what your definition of “whole idea of nations cup” you mentioned is
    mine would be, quoting Arnold – “nations cup = the best possible lineup a country can deliver”
    all 6 players being from the same clan – if it’s really the best the country has, then fkin be it (for the record that isn’t even our case)

    now, since you just care that the majority of playoffs won’t look like div1/2 matches or whatever, the option 1] is an obvious choice for you, yes I understand that

    anyway when you ask me to “explain how to better balance it so it still is a NATIONS cup while still making sure most NATIONS can still play by providing a FAIR maximum number of players from each clan”
    well, while I would still prefer option 2], my only answer you could possibly accept considering where your standards are, would be

    limit 4
    +still no risk of having “clan vs. clan” matches
    +/- still cripples smaller/lower tier/etc nations, but by far not as much as limit 3

    guess what, this rule was used in your first nations cup and /for some reason/ it didn’t lead to even nearly as much anger as limit 3 did here
    maybe that was for a reason..

  70. gryzor said:

    You have quite a few points. This is, as you say, a CHANGE. We will give this round of nations a go, evaluate pro/cons, and then make any adjustments to the next cup. Since I do not have much to add (this is a rather short reply) — to make sure you do not think I’m not taking you seriously, I’ll let you know I’ve saved this entire conversation in my “ETF2L” folder and will bring it up when NC is next evaluated.

    I hope you are content with that for the time being.

    This will also be my final post on the matter.

  71. Thanatos said:

    When you asked the “major participants” they had MORE time than the rest of countries to get a new line up under this new rule, while the minor participants where making their teams using the old rules or exceptions.
    Also the “major participants” don’t care about the rule, cos they play in “Euro” clans and not “only a country” clan. Just look at season 5 div 1 clans…

    Btw it’s summer, we did open trials in Spain and we just had 18 guys signed up, I really didn’t have multiple options to get guys with exp in div 2/3 to make a decent team and don’t break the 4 guys from the same team rule.
    Think about how hard it’s with the new rule now.

    And I tbh I don’t even see how it could be NATIONS = CLANS, just CC can fill their team with guys from the same country.
    Yes, just 1 clan from ETF2L Season 5 div 1 could be a national team itself.

    Thanks for reading my minor participant point of view.

  72. forcenet: CZetaX Delta - [CZetaX] said:

    fair enough
    I too have put all I got on my mind into that wall-o-text right there, so I’m done here as well
    despite what I expect our matches to be like inevitably because of the limit 3, I sincerely hope it will be worth it

    cheers

  73. forcenet: CZetaX Delta - [CZetaX] said:

    (addressed to gryzor)

  74. Jones said:

    gryzor thanks for posting something informative, constructive and useful. I disagree with the decision to make it clan limit 3, but after reading your post at least I can see (all) the reasoning behind it. Please continue to provide replies like this! They are a lot nicer to read than your sarcastic bs ones :p Respect!

  75. skinnie: TCM said:

    ye gryzor u asked the major participants: england finland sweden and germany ? -> it’s exactly those teams that have the biggest pool of players

    (not belgium although we were 2nd last time)

  76. Admirable: (Toucan Ambassador) said:

    I’d rather see the best line-ups on the field than a competition crippled in the name of some perceived fairness.

    The rule seems to lead to situations where nations with a small or close-knit community will be handicapped because they don’t meet your criteria, through no fault of their own.

    Obviously, playing with the same people regularly is an advantage but I don’t see the point in penalising it. Teamwork is a skill that should be embraced and promoted rather than hindered by draconian rules.

    Some teams will be better than others; this is inescapable. Artificially trying to level the playing field will achieve little more than making the whole process more frustrating.

  77. Agron: Relic said:

    1. wasnt it limit 3 in the last cup too? I remember it being limit 3, but am I wrong?
    2. skinnie, you played in the last cup, so (if i’m correct on my 1.) how’s this rule surprising to you?
    3. belgium should have been asked too.

    cheerios.

  78. forcenet: CZetaX Delta - [CZetaX] said:

    agron: limit for the last cup was 4

  79. aves said:

    forcenet
    limit was 3 but they made exceptions (e.g. for belgium)

  80. Thanatos said:

    No, it was 4 with exceptions like dk and other national teams. They played without that rule.

  81. forcenet: CZetaX Delta - [CZetaX] said:

    aves: http://etf2l.org/2008/08/06/nations-cup-group-phase-schedule-postponement/

  82. zar said:

    I’d rather see the best line-ups on the field than a competition crippled in the name of some perceived fairness.

    The rule seems to lead to situations where nations with a small or close-knit community will be handicapped because they don’t meet your criteria, through no fault of their own.

    Obviously, playing with the same people regularly is an advantage but I don’t see the point in penalising it. Teamwork is a skill that should be embraced and promoted rather than hindered by draconian rules.
    this

    Some teams will be better than others; this is inescapable. Artificially trying to level the playing field will achieve little more than making the whole process more frustrating.

  83. zar said:

    ^ +1 Admirable

  84. j U K y: FRAGGA`s said:

    hf ;)

  85. thu: NTeam said:

    http://s48.radikal.ru/i121/0908/f2/2f97e1da6c16.jpg wtf?

  86. Thanatos said:

    lol

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