Season 7 Sign-Up, Divisional Placements and Playoff Information

Date January 15, 2010

Season 7 Sign-Ups:

Sign-Ups opened for Season 7 on Tuesday evening and so far we have had 386 teams sign up to participate. This is a great start and I know there are still many more teams looking to sign up for the league. If you haven’t yet signed up, or if perhaps you have forgotten to sign up (hello Black Bob!), you can do so here. Simply visit the link and then click on the “Sign Up” button next to Season 7. Please bear in mind that you will need 6 active players in your roster, all with correctly entered STEAM IDs.

Division Formats & Placements:

We are looking at including 330 teams for Season 7, the same number of teams that featured in Season 6. The Divisions will be set out as follows:

  • Division 1 – 10 teams
  • Division 2 – 20 teams (2A-B)
  • Division 3 – 40 teams (3A-D)
  • Division 4 – 60 teams (4A-F)
  • Division 5 – 100 teams (5A-J)
  • Division 6 – 100 teams (6A-J)

With regards to placement in these divisions, we are running a slightly different system to previous seasons. This season, we are giving all teams who finished Season 6 without dropping or folding, priority entry into Season 7. This means that they will be entered into the Division that they finished in last season, depending on whether they were promoted, relegated or if they just stayed in the same division. Once all of the teams that signed up who played last season have been entered into the league, we will then fill up the spaces with new teams. When assessing new teams, we will be looking at the clan’s history, any ladder matches they have played and any other information that has been provided. You can also send us screenshots of previous matches where you have beaten teams in or above the division that you want to apply for.

I am highly encouraging all teams who are either new and are requesting a place in Season 7 OR who finished last season but would like to request to be considered for a different division to please email your request to me in the following format. Please read this very carefully, incorrect applications and submissions will be ignored!

  • Send an email to d2m [at] etf2l.org, stating your ETF2L nickname and your team name
  • Create a zip file of match screenshots in JPEG format, and upload it to your favourite file sharing site – i.e. Mediafire. Include the link to the files in your email. Please do not email the zip file itself.
  • Include a list of the screenshots/scores in the email so that we know what we’re looking at. Preferably including the date, opposition, map and score.

This is all you need to do to support your team’s potential entry into Season 7. Every email received will be posted into our Admin forum for review by the Admin team. Decisions will be made over the next couple of weeks and we intend to have the divisions finalised by the date that sign-ups end – 24th January 2010. Please try not to harrass any of the Admin team about any updates or to ask where your team is going to be placed. We will be busy reviewing the information received and putting the teams into the divisions that we feel are best suited, based on the information received.

Also, please be aware that not every team will get a place in the league straight away, due to the 330 team limit. You should not panic if this happens to your particular team as there are always a number of teams that fold/drop from the league within the first few weeks. We will be replacing dropped clans with teams from the waiting list up until the end of Week 3.

Season 7 Playoffs

There are a number of playoff matches to be played, that will determine where some teams will be playing their TF2 in Season 7. The play-off matches are as follows:

Division 1
Finland Blight Gaming v Russia Team Empire[Match Page]

Swegian 7 brothers who aren’t brothers v European we have no name cos we don’t give a fuck (teddybears)[Match Page]

Division 2
European
Paroxysm v France Exhilium[Match Page]

Sweden Northwave v Spain Nobody’s fault but mine[Match Page]

Division 3
Finland The MIPC Organization v France insAne Team

Division 4
CzechRepublic
CZech tactiX TF2A v Italy Entropy Team

The winners of each match will go into the division listed, the loser will drop into the division below.

The match pages for these playoff matches will be created later on today and edited into this news post, so please check back later for those. The playoff matches are to be played no later than Sunday 31st January 2010. Matches will be for 2 maps, with a decider map used if required. Map picking will be done via ‘Map Elimination’ on the 9 league maps for Season 7. All other details will be posted onto the match pages.

Best of luck to all teams who are involved in the playoffs!

55 Comments

  1. kaidus: 7 - WiK? said:

    How come there are so few playoff games? Did that many teams fold?

  2. RaCio: GoT² said:

    Yes, some of the teams in the lower playoff spots dropped. But div 4-6 also had very few playoff spots to start with.

  3. kaidus: 7 - WiK? said:

    Well I’m confused. Why is it that three statistical equivalents are involved in two games that’s stipulations are different (ie. one is div3 runner up VS div3 runner up, other is div 3 runner up VS div2 relegation)? Also, why are the fourth div3 runner up playing no playoff game at all, and why do parox play a div2 relegation game but spa do not?

  4. Exfane: EPA - TWIN said:

    shouldnt we be welcoming as many teams as possible, if we get 500 teams or something we shouldnt be capping it at a 330 team limit……

  5. Nigh: ¿ - TF2.ro said:

    exfane +1, i want 1000 teams or even 9001

  6. Chubbsta said:

    I agree that there should probably be more divisions, but remember, it takes a great deal of work to get the season up and running at present. To incorporate that amount of teams, would need a lot of planning and time, something which isn’t available now, especially with the Admin team changes that have taken place.

  7. Nigh: ¿ - TF2.ro said:

    Its like saying: It will take some time, we are only few admins but we don’t need any help.

  8. sickless: fnx.simrai said:

    How can it be only 1 play off if at least 4 div1 teams have folded?

  9. pala4 said:

    I like a 330 team limit, because it encourages teams not to drop during the season to get their slot in the next season=)
    But if there will be many more teams than 330, smth like 550-600, this limit should be changed )

  10. Shabbaman: GoT<3 - HoT<3 said:

    Exfane: yes, in principle I think you’re right. But… A new div2 or div3 team could be easy to assess and place in the appropriate division. But for each team you place in a division you’d have to kick someone else out. A team that just promoted but ends up in the same old division as last season will be thoroughly pissed when a new team takes their place.

    Now, that’s justifiable if that new team is clearly better. But by the time you get down to div4 and div5 skill level it’s probably really tough to assess if a new team is better than a team that just promoted, or a team that relegated from the division the new team should be in.

    OK, so you’re going to piss people off, who cares… but you’re also going to make errors (good teams in poor divisions, poor teams in good divisions), pissing more people off, but worse: screwing up the competition. And then something: half of the new teams drop anyway, making the competition even worse. Do we really want unproven teams in the higher divisions?

    The only fair solution is to put new teams in the lowest division, but that’s unfair for the teams in div6 that want to have a good time playing low- teams. Getting raped by div4 teams in your div6 is no fun, believe me. It’s not really fair for higher skilled players that start a new team as well, because playing in div6 is probably not rewarding for them.

    So, tl;dr summary: if you want to take new teams in, better make sure that you know what strength they are and make sure they are stable.

  11. xtala said:

    Expending the league would be nice, but you can’t accept 500 teams when there are only about 500 signups.
    Lots of teams already drop during the first few weeks and if it wasn’t for the waiting list, none of those spots would get filled.

  12. Kop: [CiC] - CiC said:

    Just so people know, last season although their were around 390 signups, by the time we even started to sort the divisions over 30 clans had already dropped or gone from the required 6 players to 5 or less.

  13. Black_Bob: [DA] said:

    I made it onto the front page, now only if it was for achiveing somthing good :D

  14. needy said:

    “Also, why are the fourth div3 runner up playing no playoff game at all, and why do parox play a div2 relegation game but spa do not?”

    Because we already played our playoff match against hb0da and won…

  15. Pozitive: HWarriors said:

    A quick question: Will we see the new rules during the playoffs? I’m am curious to know new tactics with the new weapons.

  16. quickman: fa» - [SpA] said:

    yeah kaidus get a clue
    :DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    question is if hb0da or eLD finds some players and sign up the next days
    they should/ will do a playoff, or?

  17. Mossad » ETF2L Season #7 ההרשמה נפתחה said:

    […] […]

  18. Tocsix: IsF said:

    Why do we need to play our playoff match when 8+ teams folded in div 2? Shouldn’t we who completed the last season get priority over new teams and folded ones? And why does everyone but sektor gaming need to play their playoff games?

  19. quickman: fa» - [SpA] said:

    as far as I see there are 5 teams so it can be only 2 play-offs
    and the admins decided (I guess) that sektor is the best of the 5 teams (I would agree based on the last seasons result) and therefore dont need to play
    but it wouldnt be the first time that even if you lose your playoff match that you will be promoted,
    etf2l made this (imo error) at least one time in their history

  20. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    Div2: Special Attack beat hb0da, who folded and could not play a play-off. Leaving 5 teams. Unfortunately this meant that one of the teams would have a bye as their play-off match would be against a team who would be unable to play it. The team that was drawn was Sektor. All of the play-off games were drawn randomly where 3 or more teams were involved.

    79 teams folded last season, we can’t increase the total number of teams in the divisions unless closer to 450-480 teams signup.

  21. Tocsix: IsF said:

    But still it’s 8 teams in div 2 that have folded this season (counted dcsb). And then hboda and eta is almost definetly going to fold/ have folded. This means that 10 teams have folded. Then 3 teams is going to move up to div 1 = 13 teams is going to leave div 2. Can’t you spare 8 of those spots to us who finished second?

  22. Tocsix: IsF said:

    and first in div 3 last season (accidently pressed submit comment a bit too early)

  23. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    There were 8 spots open in Division 2, and some very strong teams on the waiting list as well. If a team didn’t earn an automatic promotion spot, we can’t just move them up into the division above. The exception to this being the random draw we had with regards to 5 teams and a dropped team trying to play 3 play-off matches.

    At the moment Div2, Div3 and Div4 are massively oversubscribed – hence why the clans involved really need to get their screenshots in so we can get as many of them in as possible :)

  24. Tocsix: IsF said:

    Just one last question, what’s the math behind just 8 spots open? When at minimum 8 teams have folded and also probably two more have folded. 3 teams is moving up to div 1. That make it 13 spots open in div 2.

  25. Defur said:

    aww crap, i got in on 390 – do you guys still think we have a chance?? :(

  26. quickman: fa» - [SpA] said:

    if they are so massively oversubscribed change the divisions maybe?
    e.g.
    * Division 1 – 10 teams
    * Division 2 – 30 teams
    * Division 3 – 50 teams
    * Division 4 – 60 teams
    * Division 5 – 80 teams
    * Division 6 – 100 teams

  27. Demourge: EPA said:

    I think the transition from div2 to div1 would be too hard if you have to promote 3 clans and give another 3 clans a chance to fight for a promotion spot. It would also mean you have to increase the relegation spots in div1 ..
    Though, maybe increase the divs slightly so you don’t have 10 teams per div?

  28. Admirable: (Toucan Ambassador) said:

    MORE TEAMS MORE TEAMS!

    Playoffs should be good viewing :D

  29. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    Tocsix – There were 9 teams left in Div2 (8 if ETA fold/have folded – but we haven’t been informed of this yet – so we’ll call it 9). Then there’s the loser of the div1 playoff, and the 3 div2 play-off winners (one of which received a bye). So actually, 7 spots (increasing to 8 if ETA fold).

    The two division 2 winners are going to Div1, the winner of the play-off, and there’s 1 spot open which we’ll fill with a new team who want to be Div1.

  30. GeaR: Epsilon said:

    Welcome dunc’s team in div1

  31. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    We didn’t say it would be dunc’s team! ;)

  32. GeaR: Epsilon said:

    IT’S NUMLOCKED’S TEAM OFC :D

  33. Fluffy Meowington: TC.Potat said:

    GJ mister

  34. kaidus: 7 - WiK? said:

    @needy: Thanks for clearing that up and not seeming bitter about it, however it doesn’t explain the several other holes.

  35. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    kaidus, feel free to pm me on IRC with any queries you have.

  36. Slick: Epsilon said:

    Tbh their shouldnt be a spot for a new team in div1, you only encourage the creation of all star teams that disband after losing and end up with one shit div1.

  37. Slick: Epsilon said:

    But of course, sadly admins arent totally partial in the process.

  38. kaidus: 7 - WiK? said:

    Ok, thanks d2m. I genuinely wasn’t trying to cause a controversy, I’m just confused by it.

  39. tekas: Dsmile - :::Ash::: said:

    more teams what about new division.

  40. FADe said:

    moan levels haven’t quite reached season 6 proportions yet

  41. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    Added a Div1 playoff match for the last empty Div1 spot.

    Sorry for the delay with the division 3+4 play-off fixtures, they’ll be up today (Monday 18th) x

  42. brt: encore - FuDoo :> said:

    The link of “7 brothers who aren’t brothers” is not correct!

  43. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    Thanks brt – should be correct now :]

  44. Extremer said:

    Shouldn’t you put both teams in the blue promotion spots into div1 instead of making a playoff between two new teams that have a history of folding?

  45. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    We don’t have blue promotion spots, we have blue playoff spots :p And no, we made an Admin decision to do things this way, as there were a number of teams that could’ve filled a hole left vacant.

  46. Jones said:

    If they are “new” teams, then they can’t have a history of folding because they have no history.

  47. Jones said:

    I guess Blight + Empire could go up automatically and then the playoff matches could be against IDK. Or is their playoff spot being removed?

  48. D2M: vertex » - derptex9 said:

    It was removed due to LOL team folding and the controversy of how they got there at the end of last season.

  49. Extremer said:

    LOL Team folded thus placing us above them, not in a playoff spot.
    Oh please jones, pretty much every new div2/1 team is a reform of an older one. Meh, whatever, let’s just put every single new allstar team into div1 and ignore all the teams who stuck together for a full season and finished in a respectable place in div2.

  50. Jones said:

    They have been rewarded by sticking together and finishing in a respectable place – by being given a play off match. If they are good enough they will get into division 1.

  51. zip said:

    Very nice admins! Team, which is consisting of players from low div2 teams, have been promoted to div1 playoff. I’m lold.

  52. Evil said:

    Haven’t idk only stayed in division 1 because of teams folding?

  53. angra: [j]\\\' - [j]' said:

    why not just let empire and blight go to div 1(witch have earned there spot)? insted that 2 new teams can get that spot. Dosen’t seem fair.

  54. quickman: fa» - [SpA] said:

    it would be more fair, I agree
    but the quality of the “not Duncs teams” most likely fit better in div1 than the loser of blight vs empire

  55. angra: [j]\\\' - [j]' said:

    ya duncs team should fit there. But this is a team effort that should earn you a spot. Now it’s almost just 30 ppl that play in div 1 with diffrent clans here and there. And some players whine that there is not so many div 1 teams, mabye thats becuse there is the same ppl there evarytime. And that dosen’t brothen the field. If “new” teams go up, they get to play vs better ppl and they get stronger, annnnd poof there you have a new div 1 team.

    Just my 2 cent.