Steam OpenID Login

Thanks to the valiant efforts of dave, ETF2L is now using Steam OpenID. You will now need a valid Steam account to register and log in. The new system offers several great advantages:

• Additional protection against spambots
• All newly registered players will automatically have their Steam ID added to their ETF2L profile
• No need to remember your ETF2L username or password

Steam OpenID logins are handled by Valve through the Steam Community website. ETF2L does not see or record your Steam login name, password or email.

Your Steam account is now your main and only method of accessing your ETF2L account. As such, we strongly recommend enabling Steam Guard, if you have not done so already.

Please make sure your ETF2L profile contains the Steam account you intend to use in the League. If your Steam ID has been entered incorrectly, you will not be able to login to your ETF2L account. If this is the case, please contact admins using the Support page.

sv_pure rule update

Since the Steam Pipe update for Team Fortress 2, it is no longer possible to modify the sv_pure variable unless it is part of the server’s starting parameters. We would like to remind you that sv_pure 2 is a requirement for all ETF2L matches. Without this variable, users would be able to use custom models, textures and sounds, which can be used to gain an unfair advantage.

To reflect this change, we have added a new rule to General Rules:

5.5 Servers must be started with “-sv_pure”

Match servers must have the parameter “-sv_pure” or “-sv_pure 2″ in the launch options to support the sv_pure setting. sv_pure must be set to 2 in all ETF2L competitions.

To check if your server allows the modification of sv_pure, you can enter “rcon sv_pure” in the console while on your server. If this value is set to 0, it is not activated. In this case, please contact your Game Server Provider and ask him to add “-sv_pure 2” to the starting parameters of your server.

Until your GSP implements this change, you can book one of the ETF2L servers provided by Hypernia for your officials.

Regarding the cl_interp Exploit

We would like to remind our players that using the known cl_interp exploit to glitch player hitboxes is both easy to detect and classified as cheating. Anyone who is caught using the exploit will face a one year ban from all ETF2L competitions.

Speaking of…

Bans

The following players have been spotted with a recent VAC ban affecting Team Fortress 2 and are now banned from the League for one year:

Mytag — VAC ban

FUCK OPENPLUGIN — VAC ban

bowie — VAC ban

As the players have not been caught cheating by our AC staff, their teams’ results will not be affected by their bans.

Any attempts to bypass a League ban will result in an even longer ban on all accounts associated with the player. Don’t do it.

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Overview

With the conclusion of both qualifying brackets, 8 players have risen to the top and qualified for the Monthly Final!

The qualifiers from Bracket #1 are:

• achy
• space ranger
• Spike
• fe

The qualifiers from Bracket #2 are:

• Warden
• Coinz
• msh
• Mon

All 8 qualifying players have automatically been added to the competition. If you cannot play, please let an admin know as soon as possible!

The bracket has been drawn and is now live!

Monthly Final Bracket

Matches may be played before the scheduled time if both teams agree

Prizes, Schedule and Rules

Don’t forget you are fighting for

1x AVerMedia Live Gamer HD C985

Additionally and as usual, pixel trophies will also be handed out to the top 3 finishers of the monthly final. Every top 4 qualifier will also get a golden trophy for his bracket, no matter if they participate in the monthly final or not.

Reminder of the rules:

• Single elimination knockout tournament
• Only players who finished in a top 4 position in one of the two previous qualifiers get direct entry to this cup
• The matches are Bo5
• For all matches that require more than one map, the 1st map is set and then it is loser’s choice from the rest of the available map pool. No map can be played twice in the same round!

The Map Pool:

• MGE – Granary Middle
• MGE – Process Middle
• MGE – Snakewater Middle
• MGE – Badlands Middle
• MGE – Viaduct Middle
• MGE – Gullywash Middle
• MGE – Waste Middle

The Monthly Final schedule:

• 20:00 CET Wednesday – Ro8 Starts – First map: Process Middle
• 21:00 CET Wednesday – Ro4 Starts – First map: Gullywash Middle
• 22:00 CET Wednesday – Final & Consolation Final – First map: Badlands Middle

broder vs Epsilon eSports

We’re in for a treat tonight when last season’s finalists, broder and Epsilon eSports, face each other. broder got crushed in this same matchup in the regular season last time around and were considered massive underdogs going into the final. Against all odds, they pulled off something spectacular and almost clinched victory from Epsilon eSports‘s fingertips. Nevertheless Epsilon eSports managed to win the championship with victories on both of the maps being played tonight. Even if they did win, both maps were extremely close finishing with only a 1-cap difference, and so there is no reason to doubt that the match tonight will be a cracker.

Watch live video from VanillaTV on www.twitch.tv Read the rest of this entry »

Staff Changes

Priorities change for everyone at some point and the time has come for several staff members to move on. We would like to thank them all for the time and effort they put into this league and wish they succeed in their future projects, be it in real life or in another game.

• phife
• DeusVox
• freshmeatt
• AeZ!
• Panromir

Our Anti-Cheat trial admins have proven to be hard working and devoted to catching cheaters, and we are happy to welcome them as full members of our Anti-Cheat staff.

• smziii
• quintosh

Crack Clan vs Vinland Incident

During their Week 3 Premiership match, The frenchy survived had requested to play with higher FOV enabled via a server plugin and Team Infused refused, as permitted by our rules. Unhappy with their decision, Darn from The frenchy survived insulted the other team in Finnish, but started the match regardless. However, it was clear from the get-go that Darn wasn’t up to playing and after 4 rounds he simply quit the the game, abruptly terminating a match that was being casted by both VanillaTV and TeamFortressTV, with more than 400 people watching.

Darn‘s behavior was highly disrespectful towards his opponents, the casters, the spectators and his own team. For insulting the other team with comments of a racially abusive nature and disrupting a live casted Premiership match, he receives a one-match ban, and The frenchy survived will be warned for flaming.

A Rule Change

Originally we had allowed teams to raise the FOV cap upon mutual agreement, but it is now clear how this exception can cause unnecessary confusion and conflict. As such, using server plugins to achieve a higher FOV is no longer allowed, regardless of whether both teams agree on its use.

Usage of server plugins to raise the FOV cap is now covered by General Rule 5.4 Unusual server settings may be considered cheating, and may result in the match result being refused and the teams involved receiving penalties.

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Overview and Reminders

Tonight is the 2nd qualifier for this months AVerMedia MGE Cup Monthly Finals, focusing on the scout and it’s time for the last 4 of the 8 qualifiers to be decided tonight!

The brackets are out now!

Here is a quick overview of the schedule:

• 19:30 CET – Brackets Posted
• 20:00 CET – Ro128 Starts – Badlands Middle
• 20:30 CET – Ro64 Starts – Waste Middle
• 21:00 CET – Ro32 Starts – Granary Middle
• 21:30 CET – Ro16 Starts – Snakewater Middle
• 22:00 CET – Ro8 Starts – Process Middle

Remember that cup matches may be played on any server running the latest version of the MGE mod and any version of the map mge_training_v8. The newest beta version of the map, mge_training_v8_beta4, can be found here.

Locally hosted and public servers are allowed. ETF2L will have a few servers dedicated for the cup, so feel free to ask to use one if you can’t find an alternative!

Remember to communicate with your opponents on the match page to help get in touch, if you can’t contact an opponent then let an admin know! All matches have to be played on the night and if a match is holding back the bracket, a coin will be flipped to decide the winner!

All other rules and details can be found on the hub page!