Let’s get the most important issue in the history of competitive TF2 out of the way first: Yes, the Original will be allowed in Season 12.

Also, Valve listened to a combined call of the largest communities in Europe, North America and Oceania and finally created a subforum for competitive Team Fortress 2 in the Steam Powered User Forums. Check it out and start discussing our favourite game!

Playoffs

Now that that’s over with, let’s move onto the playoffs! As Season 11 draws to a close there is still one thing left to do for those who only just missed out on that precious guaranteed promotion spot (or dreaded guaranteed demotion spot).  The Premiership playoffs follow the trusted format where the top 4 teams fight for the title. The 4th placed team will play the 3rd placed team. The winner of that match will then have to play the 2nd placed team to decide who enters the grand final against the 1st placed team, and who goes home with the 3rd place prize.

Premier Division Championship Playoff

The schedule for the premiership playoffs is the following:

• Crack Clan versus Team Yoyotech – March 18th – March 24th
  
• Winner versus Epsilon eSports – March 25th – March 31st or sooner
  
• Winner versus  Team Infused – April 1st – April 7th or sooner
  

Tie breakers

All tie breakers need to be played until April 7. If you fail to schedule your matches until Thursday, March 28, a default date will be decided by the admins. Remember that all players that have been added during week 7 or later are considered as mercs and need approval by your opponent. Using an unapproved merc leads to a default loss and a minor warning.

Division 4b relegation

 Time 4 Fisting versus  Team Colonslash: Classy

Division 4g promotion

pgc Team versus WinNerds

Division 5a promotion

Green Elephant versus Quick Team

Division 5c promotion

8U Gaming versus Les Snobs!

Division 6c promotion

Bitches and Neep versus Chill it

Esports Heaven Cups

Esports Heaven is hosting two Team Fortress 2 cups in about two weeks.

• The Velociraptor Challenge – koth_maps only, 5v5, classlimit 1, all unlocks allowed, prizes are 5x 300GB SATA HDD’s and €250 cash for the first placed team by Western Digital
• Angel’s Cup – standard 6v6 setup, map pool inlcludes ETF2L Season 11 maps and cp_croissant, prize is 750 € for the first placed team by Angel

ETF2L Banner Competition

We have received an overwhelming lot of entries in the past two weeks, thanks to everyone who participated! We now had the unpleasant job of sorting out some images and present you the best 26 submission on the contest page. Every ETF2L user may pick up to two banners that he would like to see as the new header of the site. The admin staff will then pick the new header and the winner of a Tt eSPORTS SHOCK One headset out of the six most voted banners.

The poll is open until Sunday, March 25, place your votes!

Highlander Season 2 Tables

As some you may already know, we have published the preliminary tables for Season 2 here. These tables are NOT final, so teams still have the opportunity to request to change divisions by asking for an admin in our IRC channel (#etf2l @ quakenet.org). The deadline for requesting a division change is midnight on Saturday 17^th March.

On Sunday 18^th, tables will be finalized and teams must start scheduling their week 1 fixtures. Please note that a default dates will be set if the match is not scheduled by the Friday before the next week commences. Remember it is a lot easier to make an effort to talk to your opponents using the match comments, so that admins are aware of what days/times you can play on if your opponent fails to accept a schedule proposal.

VAC Bans

March 15th has been and gone, so our new policy on VAC bans is now in effect. If you receive a VAC ban that stops you from playing TF2, you will be banned from the league for 1 year. If you attempt to avoid this ban, you will be banned from the league for 2 years, with the length doubled further for each attempt made.

VAC bans that do not stop your account joining a VAC-enabled TF2 server are fine.

Premier Division VODs

We have been a little tardy with respect to delivering VanillaTV’s coverage of our Premier Division matches. Sorry! You can find links to all the latest VODs below:

• Infused vs Crack Clan – Map 1 Map 2
• YoYoTech vs Crack Clan – Map 1 Map 2
• YoYoTech vs Karnage – Map 1 Map 2
• YoYoTech vs Infused – Map 1 Map 2
• Infused vs TryHarders – Map 2

Banners

The deadline for entries into our Tt eSPORTS Banner Competition passed a few days ago now, and we’re happy to say we received well over 60 entries from over 40 different users – thanks!

We’ve spent the week looking over them all, highlighting the ones we like and making the tough decision of rejecting a few. Once we have the number of entries down to something more manageable, we will put those entries to a public vote. We will then pick the final winner from the most popular choices in the poll. Expect that poll to be out in the next few days!

Staff Changes

We are delighted to welcome 2 new admins to our Anti Cheat staff:

• schocky
• smZi

Who wants to be an admin?

There are not really any set periods of recruitment – we are always looking for new applicants to the admin team! If you think you have what it takes to be an admin, please drop us a line at [email protected]. We’ll do our best to reply to every application, whether it’s good or bad news.

• Your real name and/or ingame name
• Your spoken languages
• Why you want to be an admin
• Why you think you would be a good admin (any relevant experience or insight)

In particular, we would love to hear from any talented news writers and web coders out there!

Highlander Season 2 News

We are nearing the start of Highlander Season 2, with sign-ups closing tonight at 24:00 CET. All teams signing up after that will go straight to the waiting list. With 252 teams signed up at the time of writing, it looks like we’re heading for another excellent season of Highlander, with a level of play higher than ever before. So don’t hesitate to sign up!

Prizes

Apart from in-game medals to all participants, we will also be offering real cash prizes this season, thanks to a generous donation of £1000 earmarked for Highlander. We will distribute the prize as follows:

Division 1 first place: £500

Division 1 second place: £250

We are also setting aside £250 which will go to various prediction contests around division 1. Do you have any suggestions on what prediction contests we should run? Please share them in the comments.

Item bans

Due to the exploits associated with the High Five action item, we have decided to ban it for Season 2. Reported usages of the taunt will be judged from case to case, with punishment only being handed out if the item was exploited.

Where it goes from now..

As sign-ups close tonight, we will aim to release the seeding on Wednesday. If you think that your roster or your past results are not enough for you the be placed in the division you requested, please remember to send result screenshots from Highlander matches to [email protected], to prove that you do belong in that division (the screenshots from official matches like UGC league are very valuable and critically improve your chances). The deadline for scheduling your first-week match will be Thursday the 22nd of March, and you should play it before Saturday the 31st of March. After this, we will be on our usual ETF2L schedule of scheduling deadlines on Thursdays and play-weeks running from Sunday to Saturday.

BBall Cup News

The Fourth BBall cup has come to its conclusion. Over 128 teams competed against each other until only 4 teams were left. In the first semi-final Eliyahu Ha Navi took a clear victory over Get Good. The other semi-final saw Air Fary beat pinky.

Eliyahu Ha Navi (matnuN and Retsh0ck) took a convincing win against  Air Fary (Pescanova and HarryHook) in the final. Congratulation to them for defending their crown in the fourth ETF2L bball cup!

6v6 Season 11 News

Week 7

Week 7 will start on Sunday, March 11. As every season, the following rules are in place from now on:

• Rosters locked: Once week 7 starts all rosters will be locked, so no players can be added for the duration of week 7 and the play-offs. All new players are considered mercs and need to be approved by the opponent.
• No Wildcards: During week 7 using a wildcard is not valid. Rescheduling is only possible if both teams agree. If your opponent used a wildcard anyway, you should contact an admin on IRC to get the situation cleared with your opponent.
• Deadline: The deadline for all matches is Saturday, 17th of March, every match unplayed after that will be nullified!

cp_gravelpit

To avoid the usual confusion about cp_gravelpit: cp_gravelpit is played “best of 3”. “Best of 3” means, the first team to win two rounds wins the map. One round consists of each team attacking and defending once. Possible results are 2-0, 0-2, 2-1 and 1-2 – nothing else! Because you are playing at least two rounds you obviously need at least two screenshots of the scores. For a good example of the needed screenshots for cp_gravelpit take a look at this match page.

Playoffs

Premier Division Playoffs

Once again a reminder for the Premier Division Playoffs:

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

For possible placement decider playoffs etc. you will have to wait until all matches have been played.

Golden Cap Rule

The golden cap rule has been greeted with a lot of positive comments when it was first established in the highly successful AFS Season. Well, let us just say it was the best thing about that season! In the past weeks and months it has been criticised by some, demanding its abolishment. We started discussing this topic in the admin forum but we would like to hear the thoughts of the community as well. Feel free to discuss a possible change of the golden cap rule in this thread and give constructive feedback.

Excello News

On Wednesday, March 7 the Excello ZOWIE TF2 Challenge III Open cup took place. uV Gaming has been promoted early (moved to Invite, due to Karnage eSports not being able to play) but still a good load of division 1 signed up – that were good for quite a lot of surprises. The biggest surprise probably being Team Decerto losing 2-3 to the newly formed team WALE (now known as  Perilous Gaming) on cp_snakewater. In the end Quarantine and NITROSE managed to make it into the finals, where NITROSE managed to take a map off  Quarantine, but on cp_snakewater and cp_badlands they did not stand a chance.

The final list of invited teams:

1. Epsilon eSports
2. Team Infused
3. Crack Clan
4. Team Yoyotech
5. uV Gaming
6. Quarantine
7. NITROSE
8. Perilous Gaming

The invite cup will start on Tuesday, March 13 at 20:00 CET.

With Season 1 being a huge success, getting over 300 sign-ups, it’s about time we came out with the next season of 9-on-9 action. Having won the Highlander Community Challenge last year, the superstars of  SNSD secured their position as grand champions of highlander by beating all opposition in Season 1 and the experimental cup that followed. We think it’s about time someone else claimed the throne. Or at at least won a single match against them… But let’s not get ahead of ourselves! After all, we have 6 divisions of varying skill level and commitment, and you are free to apply to any of them. Here is what you need to know:

Prizes

Yet again, we will be handing out medals to all participants that finish their season! And if Valve are pleased with our sacrificial goats, we might even hand out gold medals to all group winners!

Dates and Setup

Sign-ups are currently open and will close on March 11th, with week 1 starting on Sunday March 18th. The season will remain short and sweet, with a five-week regular season with a promotion/relegation system and play-offs to resolve ties for the first 3 places.

As always, non-European teams are welcome to participate. In order to ease scheduling and avoid server issues, teams will be grouped together as much as possible according to region, but there is no guarantee that all teams will end up in a convenient group. If that happens, please be reasonable and try to find a time and server that fits both teams. If such an agreement cannot be reached, non-European teams are expected to conform to European times and European servers.

How To Sign Up

To sign up to the league, you first need to be part of a highlander (9v9) team with a minimum of 9 players and a maximum of 20 players on the roster. You can find or form a team in the highlander recruitment forum. Once you are in a team, your leader or deputy can sign your team up to the competition here.

Your team can request a division and skill bracket when signing up. Division 5 and 6 are the best choices for most teams who are starting out with competitive TF2. Division 4 is good for those who already have experience with highlander, while division 3 is best for trained highlander teams and those with plenty 6v6 experience. Divisions 1-2 are meant for the top teams, so don’t sign up to those unless you are very confident in your team. Requesting a division is no guarantee to be placed in it; teams will be moved around at admins’ discretion. Teams can send result screenshots from highlander matches to [email protected], to prove that they belong in the requested division. Please do so before sign-ups close on the 11th of March.

For detailed information on how to create an ETF2L account, create a team and add players to the roster, please visit the FAQ page.

Map Schedule

This time around, we have decided to include some newer maps that were tested in the recent highlander cup. Another novelty is that payload maps are now to be played in a best-of-3 ABBA format. Read this for more specific info on how to play the various maps. Also note that 6 points will be awarded for each payload map won, while 3 points will be awarded for Foundry and Lakeside.

• Week 1: Badwater
• Week 2: Foundry & Lakeside
• Week 3: Upward
• Week 4: Lakeside & Foundry
• Week 5: Barnblitz

Unlocks

The following items will be banned this season:

• Everything released from now on, except skins.
• Set hats
• Bombinomicon
• Bootie Time
• Jingle Belt
• Holiday Punch
• Enforcer
• Spy-cicle
• Pomson 6000
• Phlogistinator

Additional Info

The merc rule has been slightly updated: You can still use 3 mercs (one by default, two more if opponents agree), but now all mercs must be presented on the match page (including the merc allowed by default!) in order to be valid.

Please read the rule page (especially the merc rule) to remind yourself of the exact highlander rules for next season. You also have to be aware of the general rules that apply. Make sure you read it through! As for the server configs, we will update the existing package and announce it at a later date.

If you want to learn more about competitive TF2, you can find good information in the Training & Tactics forum. Make sure you check out the player guide and the new team leader guide.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact an admin.

Feedback

As always, we love to hear any feedback you have for us. Please take a moment to to visit the unlock thread and the map thread and share your thoughts. If you wish to give feedback on anything other than what has been suggested by us, feel free to create a new thread. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and necessary to improve the league.

Good luck to all teams that sign up! May Connor MacLeod be with you.

Bball Fun Cup

You may believe your eyes. It is again time for a proper game of Team Fortress 2 basketball.

For those of you not familiar to the concept of bball: It is a gamemode (map) where 2 teams of 2 soldiers try to rocket jump with the intelligence to each others basket. Grab the best rocket scientist from your friends list you know for your 2on2 team (create one here) and sign up your team now.

All matches up to the semi finals are played best of one. The final is played best of three which means whoever wins two maps wins.

With 128 we aim for the following schedule:

1^st March

• Round of 128: 20.00 CET
• Round of 64: 20:30 CET
• Round of 32: 21:00 CET
• Round of 16: 21:30 CET

8^th March

• Quarter finals: 20:00 CET
• Semi finals: 20:30 CET
• Final (best of 3): 21:00 CET

Details:

• Signups open: NOW
• Signups close: Wednesday, 29^th February, 20:00 CET
• Start date: Thursday, 1^st March, 20:00 CET
• Map: ctf_ballin
• Slots: 128
• Timelimit 20 minutes
• Winlimit 25
• Windifference 0 (disabled)
• Unlocks: Only standard soldier weapons

Prizes for Season 11

Playoffs will be held between March 18th and March 31st. Write it down, cancel all other engagements, consider yourselves notified.

Premier Division Playoffs

• 4th vs 3rd: March 18th – March 24th
• Winner vs 2nd: March 25th – March 31st or sooner
• Winner vs 1st: April 1st – April 7th or sooner

Tt eSPORTS generously provides us with hardware prizes for our 11th 6on6 season. The distribution is as follows:

Premiership winner:

6x Tt eSPORTS MEKA G-UNIT Keyboard

6x Tt eSPORTS Battle Dragon Bag

Premiership runner-up:

6x Tt eSPORTS THERON mouse

6x Tt eSPORTS LADON mousepad

Premiership third-place finisher:

6x Tt eSPORTS SHOCK headset

Division 1 winner:

6x Tt eSPORTS DASHER mousepad

Updates on the banner contest

As mentioned in our previous post, we are holding a banner contest! Design a fresh new banner for our header, submit your piece of art to [email protected] and the best submissions will be placed for a public vote. We already received some interesting submissions, keep it coming!

There are few conditions we have on the banner that must be met before we will consider it for our site:

• It has to be 1000×210 pixels in size
• It must contain the Tt eSPORTS logo (logo pack available here) and Multiplay logo (logo pack available here)
• The Tt eSPORTS logo may not be edited (it must be the same colour and form as the ones in the logo pack)
• It must contain a “powered by Multiplay” image (download link if/when we find one)
• It must contain the letters E, T, F, 2 and L (in that order)

The deadline for all submissions is Sunday, March 11!

As a little incentive, our new sponsor Tt eSPORTS will provide a Tt eSPORTS SHOCK One headset for the winner.

Bans

Again something new on the ban front. Firstly, the recently announced ban of IV will be shortened from 45 days (i.e. the rest of the running season) to one match (i.e. the next match his team is playing). The reason is that after revising his case, the punishment was seen as too harsh by the admin staff under the circumstances.

Unfortunately, we have to announce another ban as well. BLinK is sidelined for the next match of his team for making racist remarks about his opponents.

Also, after some time, we can announce another cheater ban! Frappe puts shame on the Swedish community. He is banned from all ETF2L competitions for one year and all matches of the current season he played in will be set to a default loss.

• IV – 1 match – heavy insults and threats of violence
• BLiNK – 1 match – Racist remarks
• Frappe – 1 year – Wallhack, aimbot