NA Rules Brackets are live!

The brackets for the cup that is run under the ESEA ruleset are now live. We had a total number of 49 teams signing up and decided to divide them into brackets of 8 instead of 16 this time.

For the rules of the tournament and the brackets please visit the NA Rules Cup page.

Here is the schedule, please start scheduling and playing the round 1 matches now!

The cup will be single elimination with 7 days per match and will follow this schedule:

• Round of 8: August 1-7, map cp_badlands
• Semi-finals: August 8-14, map cp_granary
• Finals: August 15-21, map cp_snakewater

6v6 Nations Cup: Russia vs. Ireland

This is going to be an exciting match, because the winner of this game is guaranteed to play in the playoff stages. Both teams have exact same amount of points and there is no doubt that both teams will want to to win this game. Will the ‘luck of the irish’ be with them today? How will gdk do in his first official in the Cup? Will Predz shine again as he did back in Epsilon eSports?  There is only one way to find out. The game will be casted by VanillaTV with  Skully and Pledge on the mics and Comedian on camera.

• STV: tba

Lineup Team  Ireland

• Scout: PYYYOUR
• Scout: Predz
• Soldier: Admirable
• Soldier: Funkadelic
• Demoman: troot
• Medic: Paul

Lineup Team   Russia

• Scout: reko
• Scout: redzzz
• Soldier: Forsak3n
• Soldier: Ordinator
• Demoman: gdk
• Medic: whiteglow

6v6 Nations Cup: Netherlands vs. Czech Republic

Another game of Group H! Whichever team comes away with more points will progress to the Playoff Stages and the other one will be eliminated. It’s all up to  Rok0s and his eastern tactics used against Exfane and his Dutch comrades.

• STV: tba

American Rules Cup

The American Rules Cup signups have exceeded expectations, and in order to accommodate all participants and improve cup flow, we’ve decided to make several changes to the cup structure. The cup will now feature skill brackets of 8 teams each, and will have 7 days per match instead of 5, with cp_snakewater as the final map. The new cup schedule is as follows:

• Round of 8: August 1-7, map cp_badlands
• Semi-finals: August 8-14, map cp_granary
• Finals: August 15-21, map cp_snakewater

In addition to allowing the cup to accommodate up to 40 teams, the new schedule should reduce overlap with the ongoing Nations Cups and give participants more breathing room. Signups close Tonight 22 CEST, so don’t miss your chance to try something new!

Edit: If signups reach at least 46 teams, we will have 6 brackets of 8 instead of a waiting list.

With that out of the way, let’s move on to tonight’s games.

6v6 Nations Cup: England vs. Spain

While both teams may have already secured playoffs, this match will determine the winner of the group, who will have an easier route in the playoff stages. Neither team has been tested properly so far, but this should be a close match, with high level players on both sides.

• STV: tba

6v6 Nations Cup: Hungary vs. Canada

Neither Hungary or Canada have won any points from the competition so far, playing England and Spain. Canada did show that they are capable of performing, by testing Spain out on cp_granary with a narrow loss. Hungary also tested Spain on cp_gullywash_final1, so this could be a close game! This will be their last chance to get any points from their campaign.

• STV: nervousenergy.co.uk:27031

6v6 Nations Cup: Latvia vs. Wales

A very important game for both teams, the winner of this will be going through into the playoff stage (as runners-up mostly likely), and the loser will be eliminated! Latvia have a strong team mainly consisting of division 1 team CIDO, whereas Wales have soldier duo  Mike and  Santa as the core of the team.

• STV: tba

HL Nations Cup: France vs. Ukraine

The second game from the Quarter Final stages of the HL Nations Cup is between France and Ukraine, two teams that have beaten strong opposition to reach this stage. France beat Spain in Round 1 of the Playoff Stages, which confirms them as a strong contender to win the tournament. Meanwhile Ukraine also showed us they can compete, defeating England on their way to win their group. The winner of this match will face Finland in the semi-final.

• STV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27101

HL Nations Cup: Netherlands vs. Sweden

Netherlands have probably been the surprise team of the tournament so far, having drawn with Spain in the group, and beat Lithuania in Round 1. If they can beat this Sweden team full of SNSD and May Contain Nuts players, it would surely be the biggest upset so far!

• STV: 176.9.138.143:27100

Austria proved being a team full of surprises beating Scotland in week 2, but will they manage to take some points off Sweden to secure their ticket out of the group stage? Anything can happen when you have broesel and archy on the same team, however Sweden has aces like wltrs, Zebbosai and TviQ up their sleeve to make the Austrians work for their points.

• STV: tba

Having received default wins in their previous two matches due to their opponents’ inactivity, Team USA finally gets a chance to show their prowess against a strong opponent, the highlander star-studded lineup of Finland.

• STV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27100

The next Quarter Final will be a mix of German precision with Russian deathmatch. On the German side we will see many well-known players including Bash, stefan and Thy*, they’ll be up against recluse on sniper supported by one of the best Russian scouts, krol.

• STV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27101

Lineup Team  Germany

• Scout: Brego
• Soldier: kLar
• Pyro: ipz-
• Demoman: Thy*
• Heavy: Bash
• Engineer: Thun
• Medic: Homer J
• Sniper: stefan
• Spy: BigHomer

Lineup Team  Russia

• Scout:krol
• Soldier: irfx
• Pyro: vk
• Demoman: unHuman
• Heavy: rubikon
• Engineer: pala4
• Medic: D1egos
• Sniper: recluse
• Spy: zakery

In case you’ve missed the glorious TF2 Mixup Match #4 , the vods from the last map are now online. Check it out for some charity-driven TF2 celebrity goodness!

Signups for the American Rules Cup close tomorrow, Tuesday July 31 at 22:00 CEST, so don’t miss your chance to try out something new!

6v6 Nations Cup: Croatia vs. United States of America

United States of America couldn’t field enough players and had to forfeit the match.

6v6 Nations Cup: Latvia vs. Turkey

Latvia had a hard time in week 1 to field enough players and they had to default the match, Turkey did their best but lost their week 1 game as well. The team which will score 6 points in this game might still be able to stand a chance to fight for a playoff spot. The Latvian team is composed mostly of CIDO, a div1 team, while in the Turkish lineup we have veterans like ForzaEagLE and  fle.

• STV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27100

6v6 Nations Cup: Lithuania vs. Norway

Tonight we will have another game of Group E, between Lithuania and Norway. The Norwegian team has their part of Broder in the roster including all-star players like  Macisum and torden. Lithuania however is the homeland for Extremer, the Epsilon eSports demoman, fighting alongside with him we might see Ent1re or evokje.

• STV: fakkelbrigade.eu:271001

6v6 Nations Cup: Hungary vs. Spain

Tonight we will see a match between Spain, a home for players like Jan, sraam and HarryHook and Hungary whos most well-known players are Linus and Moreg. Spain has already won their first match, a win for them would ensure their way into playoff stage, however Hungary may come out with a big surprise and steal some points from the Spaniards.

6v6 Nations Cup: Egypt vs. Netherlands

The first week of the 6v6 Nations Cup wasn’t the luckiest for Egyptians, they had to default their game due to lack of players, hopefully we will see them this week fighting against Exfane and his Dutch team. The Egyptian team is mainly from KnG!: Elite Nile Gunners, a top div3 team, while Netherlands have well-known players in their roster like Qun and skeej.

NA vs EU: Leviathan Gaming vs Epsilon eSports

Tonight sees the second showmatch between Europe and North America! Last week we saw i46 qualifiers winners Classic Mixup beat TCM Gaming 2-1 in a bo3 match. This week we’re going to see ESEA LAN champions Leviathan Gaming play against ETF2L Season 12 winners Epsilon eSports. Last game raised over $2000 towards the LAN fund, and a similar donation total tonight will be a huge step towards seeing 2 American teams at i46. There is also the chance to win 2 Razor Deathadder mice by tuning in tonight. The match is being casted by Greg and cbear with Comedian on the stream at VanillaTV.

Lineup Team  Leviathan Gaming

• Scout: Cyzer
• Scout: Clockwork
• Soldier: Mackey
• Soldier: Tyrone
• Demoman: b4nny
• Medic: Shade

Lineup Team  Epsilon eSports

• Scout: Shintaz
• Scout: schocky
• Soldier: GeaR
• Soldier: KnoxXx
• Demoman: numlocked
• Medic: F2

While watching the exciting ESEA S11 Finals, we couldn’t help but think: what would happen if we were to thrust our european vanilla-loving turtles into a fierce saffron-flavored race to 5 caps?

Only one way to find out!

For this cup, we’ll attempt to emulate the North American 6v6 experience – ESEA map format, class limits and weapon bans. Or as close as we can get using configs, at least.

Map rules

• 1 map per match
• Each map is played in 2 rounds, 30 minutes each.
• First round is played with mp_winlimit 3, second round with mp_winlimit 0.
• A break of 10 minutes is allowed between rounds.
• The score is kept across rounds, and the first team to reach 5 total captures wins *
• If scores are tied after two rounds, an Overtime round is played.
• Overtime rules: timelimit 30, winlimit 1. First team to cap wins. If neither team caps in 30 minutes, restart round and continue until first cap.

* Since we are not using a client or server plugins, the score between rounds must be tracked manually by both teams.

If you think these rules are too complicated, you can read the more detailed explanation in [this thread]

For convenience, here are separate configs for each round:
[etf2l_nacup_round1.cfg]
[etf2l_nacup_round2.cfg]
[etf2l_nacup_overtime.cfg]

(the only difference between them is mp_winlimit)

Unlock rules

The full list of banned weapons can be found [here]
Any unlocks not on the list are allowed, unless they have been released during the funcup.

The whitelist for this cup may be found here:
[etf2l_nacup_blacklist.txt]

Special rules

Class limits: 1 Medic, 1 Demoman, 1 Heavy, 1 Engineer, 2 for other classes.

As with all funcups, 2 mercs allowed by default.

For everything else, standard ETF2L 6v6 rules apply.

Cup format and schedule

The cup will be single elimination with 7 days per match and will follow this schedule:

• Round of 8: August 1-7, map cp_badlands
• Semi-finals: August 8-14, map cp_granary
• Finals: August 15-21, map cp_snakewater

Signing up

As with previous funcups, it is also possible to enter this cup using a Fun Team, which can be setup in the normal way using the page found [here].

Signups will be open until this Tuesday, 22 CEST. Brackets and fixtures will be up by midnight.

What are you waiting for? Head on to the [signup] page!