5v5 Cup

edit: Our plans to make some improvements to the team types (hopefully reducing clutter at profiles) conflicted with the early signups. Apologies for the miscommunication. Read below for juicy updates!

It’s time for the awesome annual summer fun cup. This year the flavour will be 5v5 classlimit 1, a format that is certainly fresh and interesting. This cup will allow signing up with your “fun team” (former koth/3v3) or your 6v6 team (a player should be in only one team that’s signed up). If things work out we will use the option for future cups as well, so be sure to get a lineup ready for this cup! Signups will open when the maps and schedule are announced, most likely next Sunday.

The guidelines for this cup are as follows:

• Teams: 5 of your finest combatants versus 5 of theirs.
• Classlimit 1 for all classes. As usual this won’t be enforced in the configs, so that teams may have a little more flexibility during the game. Shoutout to Moose for suggesting this format.
• Strictly no unlocks. Standard weapons only for this, the focus of this cup will be on the team structure and classes.
• If you really need it, you can have one merc allowed by default. If, somehow, you only have 3 member ready, you may have a maximum of 2 mercs, with the second merc requiring opponent’s permission.

The maps for the cup are still up for discussion, you can see the current list in the forum thread. If you want to see arena style, please add if you want to see the medic class included.

It’s worth emphasising that there is no limit to the amount of teams in this cup. If you feel like entering, go for it! New players are just as welcome as veterans, and their feedback is just as valuable to us as anybody else’s. If things works out you might see more of 5v5 classlimit 1.

Multiplay i43 Online Tournament – Win tickets to Insomnia 43!

Our good friends Multiplay are holding a competition to win free tickets to i43! This competition is split into two brackets; an upper bracket for teams from Division 1 and above, plus a lower bracket for teams from Division 2 and below. This is a great chance for teams from all skill levels to try and win tickets to the event which promises to be another big LAN for TF2. The online tournament will run on Tuesday 26th July and Wednesday 27th July. More information including details on how to sign up can be found here.

And in other news

• To copy from a comment Crasp made elsewhere:

  “S10 will allow at most: Blut, Ubersaw, Kritz, Quick Fix, Crossbow and Equalizer. At minimum: standard weapons only. S10 will hopefully start in early to mid September, and finish before Christmas like S8 was supposed to. […] The map pool was to be 6 maps decided by a nifty public vote system.”

• Aliens are invading our TF2 maps!

• Do not miss the ESL playoff match between K1ck eSports and TCM-Gaming! It will start around 21.15 CEST today. For more info on SourceTV, streams and casts please head over to VanillaTF2.

BRACKET UPDATE: Cup’s starting, no spare slots

Tomorrow (Sunday) we will have the second attempt to play day one of ultiduo cup #7, with the very first 4 rounds being played (in theory that is) . They will be on the same timetable as last week:

• Round 1: 20:00 – 20:40 CEST
• Round 2: 20:40 – 21:20
• Round 3: 21:20 – 22:00
• Round 4: 22:00 – 22:40

It is very possible that you will finish a lot earlier, if you are able to play your round 2 game at 20:00 CEST that is absolutely fine, but it is not compulsory for any team to play round 2 until 20:40.

Last chance to sign up

There are still places left in the brackets (even if it doesn’t look like it). Any team who wishes to re-join please contact me(Imperium) on steam as soon as possible. There is at least two spots. 6 other spots are possible to be open, depending if the following teams reply to me to confirm their spot (since they did not check-in last week).  These teams are:

• PIERCE THROUGH THE HEAVENS, Dsk, kanelsnurr, Burzuje, Two Men Army and Tea Cups.

If you have a place in the bracket but you did not check in, please contact me (I may have missed out one or two teams on the previous list). You can contact me on steam here.

Other important details

• All teams need to have 1 representative in IRC (#etf2l) during the cup period to contact their opponents.
• Brackets should be edited by about 16:00 CEST tomorrow (this is an estimate), or at least well in advance of tomorrow’s play.
• Teams do not need to check-in again this week. This was to ensure that only people who were able to play last week were in the brackets. Since all the teams in the brackets now are (in theory!) able to play, this is no longer an issue.
• Rescheduling is allowed for round 4 (any more than this could severely delay the cup) if teams agree. Try to avoid this, however, since it lags the cup. Teams signed up expecting to play on this Sunday, so they are expected to play. Rescheduling is for the next round, however, is allowed next week – more on this when we know the final 8 teams!
• Also, since we are on ETF2L please take screenshots, both status (type “status” in console and take a screenshot) and of the scoreboard and upload them to etf2l.

Feel free to ask about any other issues, but I think we might(!) have a full set of games done tomorrow. Here’s hoping.

Steps:

1) Make checkin 1 hour for over 100 teams – my error

2) Give the bot 10 minutes to do what takes 40 – my error

3) Seed the teams so somehow it differs from the actual etf2l page (which somehow added 6v6 teams!) – ‘no idea’ error

4) Not setup the page itself before the cup – communication error

Let this be on my head – several errors compound into 1 mess. If you take any negative impressions of etf2l as a result of this cup, put simply don’t – it is entirely my responsibility. Credit to many admins who helped solve the issues, who really should not have been expected to do this (SnowiE, CanFo, Gubbins). We apologise for all the many inconveniences  caused during this cup, but let it be known that the errors are learnt, and the next cups will be better!

For the current cup, it will be postponed by a week, so it’ll start on Sunday 17th July. If you played round 1 results, they are valid, as long as you played against the correct team (the correct opponents are in the IRC draw). Those fixtures are here. Feel free to tell an admin your results over the next week so we can enter them. If you got a default win, this will NOT count, since many teams quit because they simply didn’t understand what was happening (unsurprisingly!).

Also, 4 quick updates:

1) All teams must have a representative with their etf2l nickname in IRC (#etf2l). This will make it easier for players to find their opponents.

2) Next cup will be seeded with enough time to do it.

3) Teams do not need to checkin again next Sunday

4) Some teams who did not checkin are in the brackets. If you are still unable to play next week, let an admin know over the next week (and any new teams who want to sign up, also talk to me).

Sincere apologies to anyone and everyone affected by the mess. We know our errors. Let the QQ commence!

Latest ultiduo information

A quick reminder that ultiduo signups close very soon – today (Sunday) at 18:40 CEST. Although the cup is fully signed up, we’re expecting a high amount of drops during check-in, so there is still time to get a place!

For any of you already signed up, a quick reminder of how to check-in today (18:40 – 19:40 CEST). Join #etf2l IRC on quakenet (here is a client if you do not have one), then say the name of your team checking in, e.g. “[teamname] checking in” (replace [teamname] with your teamname). If you do this and you are not on the waiting list, your spot is confirmed. If you are on the waiting list, the higher you are on the waiting list the earlier you will be added (if at all) to the competition. It is first come, first served during signups, it does not matter when you check-in as long as you do.

After check-in closes, final editions will be made and then there will be a live draw on #etf2l at around 19:50 CEST. As soon as you are drawn, feel free to contact your opponents to play immediately.

Due to unprecedented demand, we have also expanded the cup to 128 slots. This means that tomorrow, the first Sunday of two, there will be 4 rounds. All games will remain best-of-three. If this is likely to cause issues for you, we will allow your 4th round to be played during the next week following agreement with your opponent. None of the first 3 games will be allowed to be postponed, since you signed up expecting to be able to play 3 games.

So, a recap on the timings (CEST):

18:40 Signups close
18:40 – 19:40 Check-in
19:50 Live draw in #etf2l
20:00 – 20:40 Round 1
20:40 – 21:20 Round 2
21:20 – 22:00 Round 3
22:00 – 22:40 Round 4 (with the option to delay).

As you can see, there are 40 minutes for each round. This means that even in the closest of games there will be time to spare (3 rounds of 10-12 minutes each). This also means that even though the cup theoretically ends at 22:40, a lot of games will finish very early indeed – a whitewash takes 10-15 minutes for 2 rounds. Again, feel free to play as soon as you know who you are playing.

Another update to the tournament is with unlocks; the disciplinary action is no longer compulsory to use. It is, however, allowed for any teams who have it to be used.

If you need a server during a cup (ask your opponent first), type !admin in #etf2l. There are 10-11 servers available for all games, so please try and find another server before asking – they are very limited.

A final thing for any teams who have 3 or more players in your squad: you are only allowed to play with 2 players throughout the cup. You are allowed to have a squad of 3, but 1 will not be able to play – bear this in mind.

For any squads with 0 or 1 player(s), you have been removed from the original signups. If you wish to signup, you are still able to as long as you get a 2nd player on your team, then simply re-signup.

All other information is in the previous post here.

Experimental Ordinance #7 roundup

2 days ago, we saw the 7^th Experimental Ordnance Cup get under way on the slightly confusing maps cp_sdnaldab and cp_yranarg.

The cup was split into three brackets, High, Medium and Low. The high bracket featured previous cup winners  SNSD, Portuguese superstars myRevenge and previous surprise cup finalists,  Lagtastic Gaming.

The high bracket final went 6 – 1 in favour of SNSD over myRevenge. The mid bracket final was a decisive victory for Yummy Elite Sausages who took a 5 – 0 victory of Team Ara.  The low bracket final saw the tightest game, relative to score, with Classy taking victory with 7 rounds to 2 against Crime and Punishment

Keep checking the main page for more announcements regarding the latest experimental cups.

Excello Bigfoot TF2 Challenge

So far 28 teams signed up for the Excello Bigfoot TF2 Challenge on wednesday, 13th July. This includes big names like SG-1 and Team Refuse but it will also be the first public appearance of the newly formed Epsilon and Monster Munch. However, there are still 4 spots left to fill. The original newspost for this tournament can be found here. Do not hesitate and register your team now!

To all teams that already signed up: Please add your missing players. You need at least 6 players on your roster to compete and mercs are not allowed. You are, however, allowed to add as many players as you want. In case you have any questions, feel free to query CanFo, Crasp or SonnyBlack on IRC at #excello.tf2

Spectate the insanity: connect 85.236.102.65:27315 !

Tomorrow, on Thursday the 7th, the 7th Experimental Ordnance Cup will go live. This One Night Cup will feature the two most unfamiliar familiar maps in TF2, badlands and granary mirrored. If you have not seen or downloaded the maps yet, be sure to head over to this site and check them out.

Brackets will be announced today 23:15 CEST in #etf2l!

High Bracket: Click here
Mid Bracket: Click here
Low Bracket: Click here

Round 1: 20:00 CET (cp_sdnaldab)
Quarter Final: 20:45 CET (cp_yranarg)
Semi Final: 21:30 CET (cp_sdnaldab)
Final: 22:15 CET (cp_yranarg)

The Details:

Please contact your opponents in #etf2l on IRC, so ensure at least one of your team is in there at all times. If you have any problems contacting your opponents, please talk to an Admin. There will be servers with SourceTVs (hosted by Multiplay) available for you to play on. Request them by talking to an admin.

• All teams must have at least 1 player ready on #etf2l (QuakeNet) to find their opponent and schedule the match.
• If your match starts more than 10 minutes late, please reduce the map time to 15-25 minutes, depending on how long you have left before the next round starts. Bear in mind that if the map finishes in a draw, there will be a golden cap period to follow.
• If your match finishes in a draw, you must play a golden cap round to decide the winner. Please reset the config and play a 5 minute golden cap round. The first team to cap in this round, wins. If neither team caps within 5 minutes, the team that holds CP3 at the end of the 5 minute period wins.
• The following unlocks are allowed: Crossbow, Kritzkrieg, Quick-Fix, Ubersaw and Equalizer
• For most other issues the regular ETF2L Season 9 rules apply.
• Teams may use 2 mercs by default, multiple mercs are allowed if the opponent agrees.
• To disable the whitelist you just do rcon mp_tournament_whitelist “none” and then rcon mp_tournament_restart.