BlackOut TV Highlander Invitational #1

Clarification: This is unrelated to the ETF2L Highlander Season 11 Playoffs or any ETF2L Competition, it is an independent event hosted by BlackOut TV

It’s this time of the year, folks!

No, not the US presidential election. Although it does have slightly better memes than TF2 community. ETF2L Highlander Season 11 is upon us and that means it’s time for another edition of a HL Invitational Cup (the first one to be hosted by BlackOut TV) with 8 of the juiciest teams in Europe set to participate!

Starting from 16:00 CET on Sunday 30th of October tune in to BlackOutGamingTV for a double-stream action with sigafoo,  jakeowaty, Heavy Is GPS and a surprise caster once feared and respected as the more formidable of the two Irish medics but who is now drinking his life away somewhere in the Westport countryside.

Oh, what’s that again? „What is the prizepool?” you ask? Excuse me, lady, we’re in 2016 and it’s a highlander of all things we’re talking about, there’s no such thing as „prizes”!

On a good note though, there are still nice people in this forsaken land of a gamemode and chando and  Firefly were kind enough to donate 40 British Pounds for the cup winner on Sunday.

But wait! Not only that, BlackOut TV is running a donation fund that can be found here and without a single bit of promotion at the moment of writing it already stands at 33 Mann Co. Keys that will be spread between the Top 3 finishers as shown below:

1st: 150 British Pounds + items donations
2nd: 50 pounds + items donations
3rd: items donations

UPDATE: We received donations of 50 Pounds from both Cronk and Kuferl  which will be given to the cup winner making it 140 pounds in total. Big thanks to them!

The scrap.tf fund is open until the very end of the tournament. Everyone who contributes will receive a shoutout on stream and their nickname written in the ending credits after the Grand Finals. Donate now and help make Highlander great again! (I promised myself not to do this one but I couldn’t help it).

Format & Maps

This cup will be played between 8 teams in a double-elimination format basically meaning that in order to get eliminated you have to lose twice.

Every round except Grand Final will be played on one map. PL/ADAD maps will use a BO3 format; on KOTH it’ll be BO5 & 5CP maps will be played over a 30-minute period of time or until one team caps 5 rounds. If 30 minutes end in a draw a 15-minute Golden Cap will be played. If neither of the teams caps the last point during GC, a team with the Higher Seed proceeds to the next round.
Grand Final is a Best-of-Three series (PL/ADAD – BO1; KOTH – BO5; 5CP – Win Difference 5, 30 minutes, Golden Cup has no timelimit) with the opponents picking one map each and Higher Bracket Winner having the first pick. The decider map will be pl_borneo if needed.

The tournament will be using the ETF2L Season 11 mappool consisting of: pl_upward; koth_product_rc8; cp_gullywash_final1; cp_process_final; pl_badwater; cp_steel; pl_borneo; koth_lakeside_final; koth_warmtic_rc4 & koth_coalplant_b7 with the latter three only possibly getting played if two of them are picked in the Grand Final.

Rules & Unlocks

As it is with the map pool the rules of the cup are of ETF2L Season 11 with a few specifications:

• Throughout the tournament every team will be allowed to use one default merc per game and up to three if the enemy team agrees.
• SourceTV demos of every match have to be recorded by the team that provides the server but they don’t have to be uploaded anywhere unless asked.

The chosen whitelist is the ETF2L Highlander Season 11 set.

Teams & Seedings

Every team leader was asked to rank those participating to make seedings as fair as possible and make games as close and entertaining as they can be.

Hildreth “The King of Highlander” Harris was happy to write some decorous reviews about each of the teams (except PremTech because he hates Maito). Check them out.

 

Strong Opinions

Overall Seed – #1
Ranked Self – #1

Scout – Thalash
Soldier –  Raptor
Pyro –  Steve!
Demo –  alle
Heavy –  EmilioEstevez
Engineer –  Seal
Medic –  CeeJaey
Sniper –  Der_Milchmann
Spy –  Toast

There is only one place to start, the reigning ETF2L Champions from the past two seasons and DeutschLAN winners. On paper we have a team with zero weaknesses, a strong caller, good organisation, good team spirit and the type of players who win you matches. There is a reason they are considered the best at present, led by MvM master and professional child minder CeeJaey on Medic, the team have kept relatively the same successful roster since they emerged as surprise winners of Season 9 where they picked up the experience of previous European champions Emilio Estevez (Winner in S5 with Kill Switch)  alongside Steve (formerly of Highpander) to make up a strong combo. Currently i58 runner up alle is their Demoman, who has adapted quickly to Highlander and made himself one of the most formidable across both gamemodes. His former teammate from that tournament, Thalash is also joining him, statistically the most productive Spy on Gravelpit B of all time, he makes one part of the deadly flank partnership with Raptor, though Strong Opinions reasons for success is their ability to utilise all 9 classes to work together extremely effectively no matter where on the map. This brings me to toast, the Spy of the Season is the most deadly in the scene by a mile and rivals those in the discussion for greatest of all time, his style is simple, predictable and incredibly effective utilising the deadringer and ambassador to deadly effect. The only player from the main roster I have not mentioned is Seal, the Engineer who does the dirty work quietly but effectively alongside Cloudy, a player who I will define as a “Big game performer”, but who unfortunately will not be able to play the cup with one of best snipers of last season Milchmann subbing for him instead.

On merit, and on paper there is only one winner of this tournament but if you look at history and you look at recent form, Strong Opinions are more than beatable. Throughout the past two seasons they had map defeats and dropped points here and there, but always performed their best when it mattered most, in playoffs. UGC Season 19 has been going on as well, sometimes seen as a sideshow to the main event of ETF2L, a below standard, merc filled roster was deployed under the Strong Opinions name and they only mustered a 3^rd place finish, losing to Chessclub’s new roster (and a handsome, talented Medic) in the process.

However it’s easy to see they were under strength and unmotivated for UGC, but what you cannot dismiss is history – with a roster that is so strong and expected to win and full of seasoned veterans who have achieved everything there is to achieve except beat the elusive record of SNSD’s 3 title wins, will they have the motivation to win another season? The previous winners of a HL Invitational were Highpander just before Season 7 began, who then crashed out in the playoffs surprisingly to Premtech in one of the biggest upsets. Strong Opinions should come into the tournament in enough form to win it in my view, but this will be an interesting precurser to the gruelling 8 week season ahead, where they might not retain their title.

 

Super Dickmann's KANNONEN!

Overall Seed – #2
Ranked Self – #2

Scout –  Mayh
Soldier –  dima
Pyro –  GardenFungus
Demo –  sp
Heavy – anni
Engineer –  Clark
Medic – Eniere
Sniper –  Burn
Spy –  Ze Man

The past few seasons have seen a shift in the pendulum swing towards a new trend of promoted teams going straight into playoffs. The absence of a lot of established Premiership names will make SDCK even bigger contenders to go far in this tournament and compete during the season. Fresh off a successful UGC campaign, where they beat Strong Opinion/Chessclub part rosters to win Platinum in S19, the Season 10 High champions have been in terrific form. Albeit their victories need be taken with a pinch of salt extracted from the tears of Raptor, but there is no reason to underestimate this side.

Mayh has started to build a reputation as a strong DM orientated scout, with the Russian dima on the flank, of B@GSER5 fame – in my view one of the strongest flanks you will find around in Highlander these days. The other major strength on paper for SDCK is their combo, experienced players such as Eniere (once of Unpoppable), Sandvich who has been around top High/Low Prem level for a long time as Heavy and Spelly who is a destructive Demoman when he isn’t flooding showers make a very good unit, all have spent the last few seasons fighting in the lower echoleons of the top tiers, but now the timing is perfect for them to blossom and become one of the best combos in the league. GardenFungus and Clark make up Pyro and Engineer respectively, Fungus has the worst name I have ever seen, but don’t let that dismiss you, he is another player with racks of experience, making a step up. Clark is arguably the team’s most important player, in-game he won’t contribute as much to the statistics but as a leader/organiser (of his team AND THIS EVENT, big shoutout) he is crucial. Having already played in the Premiership for Fair Enough as a scout, he also has the most experience to give, having claimed a 4^th place finish a few seasons ago. Finally we have Burn, one of the few bright sparks of an otherwise dreadful UKIP team that braced Prem in Season 8, a solid sniper and finally ZeManWithNoEars, a player I am unfamiliar with so I will leave this statement here to motivate the young man to perform (and shorten his name to ZeMan).

Surprising for some, SDCK are seeded number 2, ahead of Bureau and Chessclub and this has to be reflected by their performances over the past few months. A narrow loss in the recent Experimental Cup to Chessclub will do little to dampen their spirits as it was an experimental map, SDCK are a team on the rise, anything less than a Semi-Final appearance would be a disaster and as they have taken the illusive number 2 seeding spot, they will not be on Strong Opinions side of the bracket, but it will be a tightly contested affair in the upper bracket Semi-Finals, which will be too close to call. Top 3 minimum is a realistic expectation, there is a good chance we will see them in the Grand Finals due to their longevity and activity as a roster over summer.

 

Tourettes Chessclub

Overall Seed – #3
Ranked Self – #2

Scout – Samski
Soldier –  ondkaja
Pyro –  Synrise
Demo – quintosh
Heavy – Bejcn
Engineer –  cherryrendezvous
Medic –  Fragm3nt3d
Sniper –  Flow.
Spy – ElazulTF2

THEY’RE BACK, but not as we know it. After folding at the end of Season 9, Khazul has some back to TF2 to take care of some “Unfinished business” and compete for the title for what he hopes is a 3^rd time. But this roster is not looking very “Chessclub” like, in fact Chessclub have probably used more players than any other TF2 team ever and still remained successful from their early beginnings in UGC and Season 5 of ETF2L They boast 2 titles, 1 runners-up medal and a 3^rd place despite having a turnover of nearly 100 players in that time, one more Prem title will see them become the most successful team of all time, and another top 3 finish will tie Highpander’s record of successive podium positions.

I say all of this, but it is only Khazul surviving from the original roster with just one other person potentially playing who has been with them before, that is Ondkaja. The roster is still talented, a team like Chessclub can attract bigger names, potential scouts are once of SNSD/Team England Buttnose or Mist (aka Yaug), the talented synrise formerly of TC Ambition is Pyro, Scyper who has enjoyed 6v6 Premiership this season. Overall there is a bit of uncertainty around certain classes but each player mentioned is a top quality addition and whatever roster used will be strong. This may be because they already possess solid acquisitions cherryrendevous, Bejcn and sniper of the season, Flow. These three are some of the best individuals at their classes in the game. Becjn is highly rated amongst the Premiership community, Cherry as well and Flow has been making a huge difference since his emergence from TC, in my eyes he is the natural succession to Tracker as the “strongest in EU”. Finally completing the roster is Mr “Tactic” himself, Ondkaja, to take up reigns once more on Soldier, like a certain Zoob before him, this guy just reeks of experience and success and is an important addition to the squad.

I have praised their history, but what about the present? You can’t get much from UGC usually, rosters are sporadic, their Final loss to SDCK was a low point with a massively different combo, though they also enjoyed a victory over Strong Opinions on some dodgy maps. On the subject of Dodgy maps, they progressed well in this weekends Experimental Highlander cup, defeating number 2 seeds SDCK. It would not surprise me to see Chessclub competing closely fought games with Strong Opinions, but for this tournament second place a realistic aim, but they must overcome SDCK and Buraeu who are looking to compete for the “number two and SO’s best challenger” spot. I think Chessclub will do very well, there is enough experience to say I think they will come second this tournament, but the longer the season goes on the more this side will close the gap on Strong Opinions, I guarantee it will be a better tournament with this lot.

 

The Bureau

Overall Seed – #4
Ranked Self – #4

Scout –  Funs
Soldier –  Just1s
Pyro –  Rick May
Demo –  kuli
Heavy –  scrambled
Engineer –  Doom
Medic –  Chronos
Sniper –  Realizyeee
Spy –  miknando

With the demise of Fair Enough and Highpander, The Bureau are the only other playoff side to survive the long, summer of death for Highlander teams. Their roster is more or less the same as the one that started their last game in Season 10 versus Strong Opinions in the Semi-Finals, the only differences being replacement of MatteX with Doom, who makes his return to the roster after 3 seasons. The other exception is Realize in for Scriptzon, potentially a big loss for Buraeu as Scriptzon’s performance was one of their key factors in their surprise 3^rd place finish. Despite these two changes, the core of the side is relatively the same and the team has not gotten any weaker over the post season.

Their leader Chronos is so vital to maintaining the roster and is the heartbeat of the team, there have been times he has been away but without him this side does not exist as they have fought their way up the leagues to compete for titles. Funs is another player making the plunge to Highlander on Scout, joined by Just1s on the flank, an experienced player formerly of Feila. Yahoo stands out as one of the closest Pyros to Steve in terms of abilities, a consistent performer for BMS. Kuli/Scrambled have managed to form an effective combination on Demo and Heavy with new boy Doom adding extra strength to the flank. Realize’s in his prem debut on sniper and the talented Miknando make up the rest of the team, a squad that know each other well and last season possessed the right combination of talent, experience and dedication to climb into third.

Arguably this is their first tournament where Bureau are not underdogs – 12 months ago you would have laughed at the thought of Bureau being amongst the favourites for the title, but times move on quickly in Highlander, as older players disintegrate and younger, more hungry and dedicated players step up, teams like Bureau represent a great example of where you can be if you practise a lot and fear nobody. The pressure is definitely on Bureau to deliver and show the community that their 3^rd place finish was not a fluke, anything less than Semi-final appearance in this tournament would be a failure in my eyes, I expect them to get through to the last 4, depending on how it is seeded and if they avoid Strong Opinions, they could possibly make an appearance in the final as well though that is less likely with the danger of their long break between season and pre-season rustiness taking effect. However I am expecting a strong showing over the season.

 

Budget Toucans

Overall Seed – #5
Ranked Self – #5

Scout –  Silver Tosspot
Soldier –  Chef Excellence
Pyro –  Vclox_
Demo –  Shaggy
Heavy –  catman
Engineer –  Metso
Medic –  MARS^
Sniper –  Jelly
Spy –  Domaytoe

CAN YOU SURVIVE THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP? Another side that have risen through the ranks and will more than likely participate in the Premiership in ETF2L this season, Budget Toucans formed in Season 8 and have gone from Open to runners-up in High in 3 seasons. They have been two playoff games away from making it to the Premiership twice but just fell short on both occasions. Now with their collective experience, revamped roster and the fact a few Premiership sides have disappeared, Toucans are amongst a select few expected to make the step up.

Their roster has 7/9 of the players from last season, only their Engineer and Medic have changed, although for this cup they will use the red machine of ex-WASP catman as their inspirational memer/leader Maccy is unavailable. I expect this may have little negative effect on their performance, but importantly for Toucans, their Demoman Shaggy is still available. The Belgium pipe machine is regarded as one of their teams most important players and key to their successes, it is obvious from their playstyle they  have built the team around his role as the primary damage dealer. His support cast includes the newly recruited MARS, a player with a lot of experience around the High/Low Prem level who is entrusted in replacing the more laid back Pe4ce. Chef and Silver play Soldier and Scout respectively, both have been improving over the month, along with the baby faced Pyro, Vclox. Domaytoe and Jelly are regarded as one of the better upcoming Spies/Snipers in the scene, both can produce big moments when needed, utilising the solid unit they have built. One thing that is noteworthy of this roster is how YOUNG they all are, and these three have been playing together for 2 seasons and know each other’s games a lot better than some of the other teams, when I have seen them before they were inexperienced but their dedication and team spirit has helped see them grow into one of the rising teams so far. I haven’t mentioned Metso, as he plays Engineer and I am a little harsh on Engies, sometimes they can be little difference makers but Metso’s performances have caught the eye and he is regarded as one of the best in High last season.

But how will they fare? This one commentators opinion is slightly biased as I hold a sort of absent father relationship to these little ones, but I think they will get to the Semi-Final, their seeding will see them face a tough first round game, but I can see them taking out some of the lower seeds in the lower brackers and move into the top 4, but only if THEY BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP. Shaggy will be their main man, but they have the basis for a good team with pick classes that make differences and if they can co-ordinate their combo and flank effectively, they may surprise a few teams. I just hope MARS has recovered mentally from the nights we shared a room at DeutschLAN last year, least he can walk straight now.

 

PremTech

Overall Seed – #6
Ranked Self – #4

Scout –  Leagle_
Soldier –  LUKASTANK
Pyro –  Feri
Demo –  BAITO
Heavy – kKaltUu
Engineer – Detoed.
Medic –  Konna
Sniper –  rech
Spy –  Grenja

written by Clark

Stepping in for Stacked who unfortunately are unable to compete on Sunday a long-standing member of the highlander community the PremTech gang inherits the 6th seed after them but in my eyes it’s a massive understatement. Led by „notsosafenightsforyou” Maito the team is making its comeback after the dissapointing last season where they managed to take points out of EVERY team but still missed out on the playoffs. But don’t worry – they are back right in time for the Season 11 and they are looking as fierce as ever.

Despite the fact that the majority of players on the team have been in-active in highlander for the past half a year don’t let it fool you because none of them really quit tf2. While kKaltuu was busy doing 1-day trips to DeutschLAN and killing highlander the likes of mist and Grenjabob have been making waves in the High division of 6v6 and are still on form. Maito returns to demoman & as their one and only motivational leader while also bringing Konna, olBaa and the aforementioned kKaltuu back with him. Perhaps their biggest playmaker is going to be one of the craziest pyros of last season – feri who has been practising intensely with the recently deceased Team Dirt whilst PremTech was on hiatus. Rounding up their newest roster are the 6v6 MGE hero lukas on soldier and the finnish scattergun master Leagle who was conceivably one of the best scouts in High last season.

It will be interesting to see whether the rust affects some of the older players on the team but one thing is certain – they are fighters and will give everyone a run for their money.

 

inVision

Overall Seed – #7
Ranked Self – #7

Scout –  credu
Soldier – JackyLegs
Pyro –  yugo
Demo –  adamracek
Heavy – Tercio
Engineer –  sek
Medic – Drezzo
Sniper –  fnzkie
Spy –  Kostil

Once again we’re in the territory of “upcoming rosters” though unlike a lot of rosters on this list, InVision may not be guaranteed a Premiership spot next season. Their Semi-Final defeat to Budget Toucans in High last season means they do not have an automatic claim to move up the ranks, but nonetheless they have edited their roster and made it into the final tournament. Originally an Italian orientated squad, they have a multi-national roster with perhaps their biggest name being Karl of dK fame, the NA Heavy has had success across the pond and like countrymen Polk and Kresnik, he is looking to make it in the European scene.

They did possess the talents of Pierzz last season, but he has since been replaced for one reason or another by Credu, an inexperienced Highlander scout, more known in the 6v6 scene as a High player. Other new players include 1hp on Pyro, a very inexperienced Swedish Pyro, Kostil the former WASP spy and another new player to the scene, it appears is Sek. They still have some of their core like Ace, Tercio and Adamracek who has made the move to Demo along with Stinghan, a strong sniper in High last season but for InVision we are staring into the unknown a bit

There is not much to state about this side, their UGC form has been patchy, despite their performances last season you do question the pedigree of some of their players at this level, certainly this team would not be here if the likes of Highpander/WASP/Fair Enough had stuck around, whilst their High counterparts from last season SDCK and Budget Toucans are seen as natural successors, my personal opinion is we will see this side exit early. But, that is the beauty of this tournament, they may do a “Premtech” and announce themselves as playoff contender despite being seeded so low.

 

Team Colonslash: Frosties

Overall Seed – #8
Ranked Self – #7

Scout –  Johhny from Cali
Soldier – Included_Middle
Pyro –  Teatime
Demo – Setsul
Heavy –  MoistPenguin
Engineer –  TeaKay
Medic –  Lurkki
Sniper –  Kylähullu
Spy – yucca

Finally last but not least, TC: Frosties or Team Colonslash for those not initiated to the legendary community. Made up of two former TC sides, we have another top High team making the step up, and though they do not have much pedigree as a team, with only average performances in UGC/ETF2L to compare, they do possess ability.

The likes of Setsul who was one of the bright sparks of the TC Ambition roster that had a torrid time last season have made the transition, with the finnish hero Kylähullu of „Checkers” DeutschLAN glory making an appearance again on Sniper. These two players to me will be their big players, both are formidable and Premiership proven. Otherwise this is a bit of an unknown roster to me, I cannot pretend to know too much about a lot of these players, Moist is a good upcoming player on Heavy, it will be interesting to see how he performs versus the best, though the rest of them will have a lot to prove. One big advantage they have is the likes of Moist, TeaKay and Included_Middle have been together for 2 seasons and look set to play a 3^rd together, so they have more knowledge of each other than other sides may have. Meanwhile ts is in his 2^nd season, medic Lurkki is a new addition whilst Teatime and Arzt will be stepping in as a pyro and scout respectively. I think potentially we have the makings of a good team but lesser known players need to step up to the level Setsul and Kylähullu have shown in the past.

I cannot personally see TC: Frosties going beyond the first round, they could surprise someone in the Lower bracket but they should be out early by all logic. But I live to be proven wrong…again.

Challonge predictions
So there you have it! Your 8 teams who are going to battle out who’s the true European champion of a superior gamemode this very Sunday. You can make predictions on Higher Bracket brackets and whoever will be the ultimate winner by going to this link. If anyone predicts every game and the winner correctly that person will get a special prize in the form of, you will not believe it, a TF2 hat. So that’s something to look forward to, isn’t it?

Written by Clark with analysis by  Hildreth