Season 13 Rule Reminder!

A reminder is in place for all teams actively participating in the 6v6 League’s Season 13. As you know well, our 6v6 ruleset has undergone substantial changes we employed in order to strengthen the organizational front. One of the changes, met with reserve from the players, was the requirement for matches to be played before the ongoing week’s deadline. Just a few days ago we updated our policy regarding deadline extensions to clarify on certain inaccuracies and doubts from the players regarding their ability to postpone matches. Keep in mind that if you are certain that you won’t be able to play your match in time, you should ask an admin for an extension as soon as possible. As of now, the related excerpt from Rule 1.9 – Late matches are not allowed stands as follows:

Teams may request an extension of the match deadline by 7 days by contacting an admin. An extension is granted if the following requirements are met:

– The match was scheduled by the teams within the schedule deadline or is still unscheduled. Matches that got a default date are not eligible for an extension. This point resets when a wildcard is used as it opens a new schedule timeframe.

– The extension is requested at least 24 hours before the initially scheduled time.

– Both teams must agree to the extension, either in the match comments or by accepting/proposing the new schedule.

If an extension is approved, the current schedule will be removed. A default date will be set for the match if the match is not scheduled by the following Monday to a day within the following play week’s match deadline. Matches without result one day after the deadline of the extension passed will lead to one minor warning for each team.

With approximately twenty out of 160 matches scheduled for next week we strongly urge the team leaders to get in touch with their upcoming week’s opponents and begin planning their next matches as the rule will be strictly enforced by the admins to ensure the season’s global deadlines are met.

Experimental Highlander Cup The Third – Wrap-Up!

And without further ado, let’s hop right into our post-event report on the third Experimental Highlander Cup that took place not long time ago. The untested waters filled with unexplored maps and exotic unlocks have become a target of several highlander teams ready to discover and set foot on the unknown lands. With the recent addition of The Triad Pack and not-so-recent Pyromania fever, we felt obliged to let those keen explorers take a bite at all the new stuff, along with some new maps to spice up the game. Just a week ago we had the chance to spectate the crowning of the High and Low brackets’ champions in quite entertaining finals. RIP in peace Permzilla swiftly claimed victory over Max-Play Highlander Team with a definite 6-0 in the High Bracket, whereas over in the Low Bracket, Wolves of Anatolia took on and overcame the challenge presented by That awkward moment conquering both maps for themselves.

Match Overview
RIP in peace Permzilla vs Max-Play Highlander Team
Final
Friday, October 5th 20:00 CEST
SourceTV: relay.vanillatv.org:27101

ctf_haunt_a1

5 - 2

cp_gorge

2 - 0

OVERALL
RIP in peace Permzilla [6:0] Max-Play Highlander Team

Match Overview
That awkward moment vs Wolves of Anatolia
Final
Sunday, October 7th 20:30 CEST

cp_gorge

0 - 2

pl_swiftwater_ugc

0 - 2

OVERALL
That awkward moment [0:6] Wolves of Anatolia

We’re eagerly awaiting for you to share your thoughts about the games with us as your experiences and feedback will help us provide you with better and more entertaining tourneys in the future. Check out our Idea Box topics regarding the maps played in the cup to share your opinions about them as those topics will aid us in the map selection process preceding next regular highlander seasons: ctf_haunt_a1, pl_swiftwater and cp_gorge.

Season 13 powered by Tt eSPORTS: Quarantine vs. The Last Resort – Premiership Match

Here we are, ladies and gentlemen – the end of the fourth week of Season 13 is upon us. With over six hundred matches played there’s still a lot of uncertainty amongst the teams as nothing is decided quite yet. The next few weeks will provide us with more hype and action and with what a gem we shall celebrate the upcoming beginning of the weekend. Two great Premiership teams will duke it out tonight, racing for the playoffs spots and a chance to win this season’s grand prize – Quarantine will take on the new addition to the Premiership, The Last Resort!

Match Overview
Quarantine vs The Last Resort
Week 4 (Premier Division)
Thursday, October 11th 21:15 CEST

cp_snakewater

1 - 6

cp_process_b10fix

2 - 3

OVERALL
Quarantine [0:6] The Last Resort

Quarantine‘s demoman fuo feels well prepared for the match:

I think we’ve had a lot of experience with their team in the past, met them at lan, etc., and I would say we’re prepared, nevertheless we never underestimate our opponents!

For the i46’s greatest surprise, The Last Resort, it’s an opportunity to further secure their playoff spot and droso remains optimistic:

We feel great about the match. Every prem game is tricky though, so we’ll have to try our best, as usual.

Our good lads over at VanillaTV will be covering tonight’s match, with Admirable and djc behind the mics and Comedian on the stream – make sure to check it out!

• STV: connect relay.vanillatv.org:27100

Season 13 powered by Tt eSPORTS: elemental violence vs. uV NINJAS

Match Overview
elemental violence vs Last Man Standing
Week 2 (Division 1)
Tuesday, October 9th 21:15 CEST

cp_granary

2 - 7

cp_gullywash_final1

2 - 3

OVERALL
elemental violence [0:6] Last Man Standing

 uV NINJAS (who are actually mostly  Russian but went international recently) are still sitting on only one match played (in which they won and lost one map) but will nevertheless start working on their delay tonight. This is the week 2 match in Division 1 between  uV NINJAS and  elemental violence, a team full of talents who worked their way up the divisions over the years and managed to take a map off of Division 1 leader  Naugthy Badmen.

The recent addition to the  uV NINJAS,  CommanderX, gives the following statement for this match:

So I’m finally making my much anticipated return as soldier. After maining it for so long in old division 3 I feel stepping up to current division 1 should not cause me too many issues. We’ve (not me personally but the team) have pcw’d elem.v quite a lot and it has always been fun so we’re looking forward to it. Our aim is to win division 1 and we believe we can do this so we’re going into this game confident. The talent across our team is move evenly distributed so over the course of two maps that should help us come out on top. Also, whiteglow will ubersaw WAR atleast 3 times, cu@youtube, scrub.

 elemental violence’s  WARHURYEAH responds with:

We are finally here at the pinnacle game of our TF2 careers, I have dreamed of this day, the day when we play against a team that is just as aggressive as ourselves, a team that also doesn’t care about their medics and will probably die all the time. Following from our sexual performance against Naught Badmen, a game that many feel we should have gotten rolled on, I have the upmost confidence that tonight, we will not be getting raped, because we will be giving consent, we are spreading wide and telling uV that if they want it, they have to fight for it first.

VanillaTV will be covering this match as part of their ABC Tuesday series with  AcidRenix,  beta and  Comedian (Got it? Because it is Arx, Beta and Comedian…). Tune in, this will be a close and exciting match!

• STV: connect relay.vanillatv.org:27100

Updated Policy for Match Extensions

Giving an extension for a match is always a double-edged sword for the admin staff. On the one hand, we want all matches to be played within certain guidelines to be able to wrap up a week and look forward to the next one. This also benefits casting organisations and opponents because harsh deadlines make it easier to arrange schedules. On the other hand, most of us are playing this game for fun and not to make a living which makes us think some leniency regarding certain topics is appropriate. It would be over the top and unfair to expect the players in this league to organise their life around ETF2L matches, it should be the other way around.

Now that it should be clear why the rules for extensions have been tightened a bit but extensions are still possible, it is time for a little revision. The revised extension rule is explained below.

The old rule reads

An extension of up to 7 days is possible if both teams agree and an admin’s approval is given. If the match with the extended deadline has no result at the end of the day after the extension expires, both teams will receive a minor warning.

The new one is now

Teams may request an extension of the match deadline by 7 days by contacting an admin. An extension is granted if the following requirements are met:
– The match was scheduled by the teams within the schedule deadline. No default date has be given for the active schedule timeframe. This point resets when a wildcard is used as it opens a new schedule timeframe.
– The extension is requested at least 24 hours before the initially scheduled time.
– Both teams must agree to the extension, either in the match comments or by accepting/proposing the new schedule.

If an extension is approved, the current schedule will be removed. A default date will be set for the match if the match is not scheduled by the following Monday to a day within the following play week’s match deadline. Matches without result one day after the deadline of the extension passed will lead to one minor warning for each team.

The new rule is effective with the start of week 5 on October 14, meaning week 4 matches still can be extended under the old rule.

Chinese Mafia drops from Premier Division

Lastly, we feel sorry to announce that   (-.(-.(-.-).-).-) CHINESE MAFIA decided to drop from the Premier Division and from Season 13 as a whole.

A statement from Gubbins:

Chinese Mafia have decided that due to lack of motivation and availability to play, we will not be continuing to develop our roster as it would be disrespectful to other Premiership teams. Apologies to all teams in prem, Quad, Raliator and uV

With the signups for ETF2L’s 3rd season of Highlander opening in a week’s time on Monday 15th October and a potentially awesome season of one-of-each-class, cart pushing action going down with prize money involved, we figure now is a good time to start bringing up the hype. Now for the first time ETF2L is proud to present in association with VanillaTV and eXtelevision a 3 map showmatch series between the undisputed ETF2L champions of Highlander, SNSD who are undefeated in all official matches and the currently number 1 ranked UGC Platinum team  The Syndicate, who possess public stars such as  Stabby Stabby as well as i46 winner  Ruwin and ex-ESEA Invite champion  Vhalin on their roster.

Our friends from eXtelevision have kindly provided a server in New York for us to use (shoutout to eoreality.net) and community hero  Salamancer to join myself,  Hildreth and  Admirable on the microphone for VanillaTV this Sunday 14th October at 21.15 CET or 15.15 EST (for all you East coasters out there). As per usual TF2’s coolest cameraman  Comedian will be keeping it together on the stream for what we hope should be a close and exciting game as two divided scenes meet for the first time in an official capacity.

Being an online showmatch we cannot guarantee a fair game however we are of the good fortune that  The Syndicate is mostly based in the West Coast of the United States, meaning they will ping the same to New York as the majority of SNSD with both teams expected to average roughly 90-120 ping.

As the dust settles from the American dominance of i46, I can still clearly remember a sign read out from the stage before the Grand Final which read “At least we’re (Europe) better at Highlander…and MGE!” Now Epsilon’s  Mike has already shown the yanks his MGE skills but the North American and European Highlander scenes still remain quite far apart, never having played a proper showmatch to gain some bragging rights.

With the Americans playing over in the UGC League having just scrapped their 3 invite players per team policy, leading to the creation stacked teams meshing both talented Highlander players plus skillful 6v6 stars into a solid unit. This is so the case with  The Syndicate, who are currently 4-0 in UGC Platinum, rolling the league including besting other teams with similairly stacked rosters, having already got individual players who have won everything in 6v6, the team relies on the calls of their Medic,  Hein who is the only player in the side to have ever won a Highlander tournament.

SNSD over the years have grown into TF2 legend, being the only Highlander team in the history of TF2 to become a dynasty; they won the single biggest TF2 competition in the Community Highlander Challenge, defeating Colony in the final back in early 2011, they proved they weren’t just the best community by beating the talented Angry German Kids in the CommFT Highlander cup and have since sweeped up both Season 1 and 2 of ETF2L’s regular Highlander season and the Experimental cup #2, meaning they have incredibly won every game of Highlander they have ever participated in. On paper the records show  SNSD will be the dominant force but having not played for a few months, facing up against a team of talent who practise Highlander regulary will be a challenge unlike any they have ever faced.

With the growing popularity for competitive Team Fortress 2 and rising numbers of players we would like to introduce you tonight to a man who gives a home to all TF2 streamers. It is a platform for promotion and interaction between streamers and their viewers but also developped into a forum for TF2 players all over the world. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Enigma, scout for ESEA-Invite team  Classic Mixup, and TeamFortress.tv. The interview was conducted by ETF2L’s ipz-.

 ipz-: What is the idea behind Teamfortress.tv and who are the people behind it?

 Enigma: The original concept blossomed from talking with Twitch.TV’s FishStix at the ESEA Season 9 LAN (about a year ago) where he introduced the invite players in attendance to streaming. The initial hurdle to obtaining viewership was simply the lack of awareness, which I attempted to spread by creating the first version of TeamFortress.TV that functioned simply as a stream aggregator. The idea was for all involved in TF2 streaming to promote one URL (TeamFortress.TV) to benefit everyone as opposed to separate ones for each individual.

i: Is Teamfortress.tv actively trying to become a main hub for competitive tf2, bridging the gap between Europe and North America? Is that important for you?

E: The immediate focus is to unify the North American competitive community and merge relevant resources onto into one site. The scene here is desperately lacking a VanillaTF2, and I’m looking to fill that void.

i: What is the difference between TeamFortress.tv and already existing coverage sites like CommFT or VanillaTF2?

E: The site’s coded from the ground up to be a TF2 portal and isn’t bound by the rules and clumsiness of ready-to-go CMS solutions that CommFT/Vanilla are run on. This is of course means much more work and buginess in the short-run, but I’m quite confident that the ease of implementation of nonstandard features and speed advantages are well worth it.

i: What are the conditions to get my stream featured on TeamFortress.tv?

E: Drop me a link on the forums and I’ll be happy to add your stream provided you’re a competitive player and stream mostly TF2.

i: What should streamers do to improve spectator numbers and get more people enthusiastic for competitive TF2?

E: Tune in to the big-name streamers (Tyrone, Platinum, PYYYOUR, Lange, Seanbud, etc.) and take notes on how they engage streamers. Don’t neglect your stream chat — viewer interaction is key. You have to realize that simply watching TF2 without any sort of banter is usually pretty dry.

i: Is TeamFortress.tv planning on doing their own video content?

E: Not yet.

i: How can we as the ETF2L.org help TeamFortress.tv and vice versa?

E: If anyone’s interested in providing consistent ETF2L coverage, I’d be more than happy to feature your articles on the site. It’s a great cross promotion opportunity.

i: I hope these answers suffice. Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to talk with you.