As of yesterday, the sign-up stage for The ETF2L SteelSeries Season 9 has ended, over 365 teams have signed up in just one week. Teams that haven’t signed up but are interested can still sign up to the waiting list in case there is room in a division, due to for example drops.

ETF2L would once again like to give a huge thanks to SteelSeries who have been generous enough to put forward the following prizes for Season 9:

Premier Division :

Premier Division Winners – SteelSeries Siberia v2 (White) Headset

Premier Division 2nd Place – SteelSeries Xai Mice

Premier Division 3rd Place – SteelSeries 4H

Division 1 :

Division 1 Winners – SteelSeries 9HD

Everyone :

In the style of Season 8 and in partnership with Valve, all participants of Season 9 will receive an in-game medal to show off their efforts! Coming first, second or third in your division will earn you a gold, silver or bronze medal respectively. We haven’t forgotten about the medals promised to you in Season 8 either; the technology required to give them out will be released by Valve soon.

And more :

Three sets of posters signed by Valve staff will be up for grabs for 3 teams that prove themselves to be awesome in season 9. The requirements for qualifying as awesome, and hopefully winning the posters, will be published soon.

Finally, we officially announce that BuffaloBill has departed from the admin team. Many thanks for the time and effort you put into the league and helping us out, Bill. We wish you all the best.

Esports Heaven is holding another cup for TF2, sponsored by Full Tilt Poker!

Full Tilt Poker has given us a prize pool of €1,000 to encourage 64 teams to sign up. We were recently notified of an additional rule from Full Tilt Poker. It’s unfortunate that we learned of the addition late into the signup period, but it is necessary for all teams participating in the cup:

“Every team must add one of a list of linked sponsor phrases to their team website (preferably in a news post about their participation in this tournament).”

More details on the requirement here.

Not knowing about this rule sooner has meant all teams previously signed up for the Cup had to be unapproved, until they contact either DeNeusbeer or Crasp (preferably in IRC) with confirmation of a news post on their team’s site. It’s a shame that we had to reset the signups, all we can do is make sure it won’t happen again. However the best way to guarantee more cups from ESH is for teams to sign up to this one!

Note: Teams without a website don’t need to worry about a news post, but they still MUST contact DeNeusbeer or Crasp to be re-approved!

Allowed unlockable weapons for this cup:
– Ubersaw
– Kritzkrieg
– Blutsauger
– Bonk! Atomic punch
– Frying Pan
– Holy Mackerel
– Equalizer
– Sandvich

You can find more information on the Cup here. Sign up here!

I42

The preparations for the upcoming 42nd I-series LAN event are in full motion. Visit the LAN Forum for the latest info on things like the  map pool, unlocks and mix teams. Be sure you don’t miss out!

Season 9 Signups

There are over 2 full days left to sign up for Season 9, but we are already getting close to the holy number of 350 teams. After that, a place in the season is likely, but not guaranteed. So Sign Up while you still can!

As a reminder for you all, it is Friday today, which means the ETF2L Season 9 Signups are open! The Map schedule and Rules have already been published, so be sure to check those out if you haven’t already!

If you do not have a team yet, be sure to check out the recruitment section or learn more about creating a team and the site on the FAQ page. If you think your team deserves special consideration regarding your seedings, please email your application to [email protected] with screenshots and other helpful information.

>>> Sign Up Now! <<<

The Highlander Community Challenge Grand Finals

Over 10.000 players signed up to the tournament. Over 800 teams played in the Group stages. Now, only 2 teams remain in the Highlander Community Challenge. But there can be only one! The best community team in TF2 will be known next Sunday at 18:30 CET, as the Finnish long time favourites Colony will face off versus the European powerhouse SNSD. View their road to victory trough the huge playoff group stage here. After the finals are played, the European Thunder 6v9 will go live, be sure to check that out as well!

• Colony is:
  • zoob
  • J0rmund
  • s3
  • mente
  • fraggen
  • furbo
  • jonzku
  • MrLate;
  • nappr
  • noretus
  • SabaSaba
  • yonus
• SNSD is:
  • Linus
  • Hat
  • Alx
  • Billykins
  • chojje
  • hurr
  • Hurri
  • immortal flow
  • MikeW
  • Morphine
  • roblax
  • Sisu
  • zire
• SourceTV info: connect 145.92.203.100:27100
• The match will be casted live by ETF2L.radio and TF2TV
• ETF2L.radio casters: Byte and Baerbal (Germany’s finest)
• ETF2L.radio mumble: Host – fakkelbrigade.eu , Port – 64740
• Match time: Sunday, March 6th at 18:30 CET (9:30 PST, 12:30 EST)

Unlock rules are always expected to be the spice of a season. Compared to last season a few small things will change, largely keeping the flavour of last seasons intact. The ruleset should provide a more structured framework that will allow a sustainable way of keeping the primary gameplay as focus, with possibilities of future additions if metagame changes would request so. Hopefully this will provide a good taste for both people looking to spice things up as well as those looking for a milder experience.

Season 9 Unlock Ingredients:

• Main combat classes (scout, soldier, demoman, heavy): Bonk, Equalizer, Sandvich and Pain train allowed.
• Support classes: All allowed, except Wrangler, Vita-Saw and Amputator which are banned.
• Set hats banned (where possible)
• Weapon (re)skins, hats and other visuals are enabled by default, but can be disabled if teams wish so.

What this means.

Combat classes will retain a mostly pure form of combat with a few established unlocks allowed.  Support classes have a different role and are therefore allowed a wider variety of unlocks. The Medic’s Crossbow will arguably be the biggest addition providing an interesting skill mechanic for medics. The (only) other unlock from the Christmas update is the pyro’s rake, although the Degreaser should be the most interesting addition for the skilled pyro players. Other support class unlocks are known from last season or should provide some fine-tuning for the more dedicated users of a class.

Whitelist & Config

Season 9 will provide a item whitelist and a new ETF2L config. The new config will include a new CTF command that should handle rounds of 5 for Turbine. The config will also execute and handle the whitelists. The ETF2L whitelist should make sure no accidental mistakes with unlocks can be made. In addition to the default whitelist, teams can choose to use a whitelist that disables pure visual items like skins and hats. To do so, set the correct line in the config or  enter mp_tournament_whitelist “cfg/etf2l_whitelist_nohat.txt” and mp_tournament_restart. To disable the whitelist entirely for practise or fun games, use mp_tournament_whitelist “off” and mp_tournament_restart.

You can find the download link below, place the whitelist files in the cfg folder on your server along with the updated etf2l config.

>> Download ETF2L config + whitelist <<

Other rule info

• Next season will use Heavy limit 1. Obviously this means that in a game, a team can only use 1 heavy at a time.
• The premier division playoff structure will be changed a bit to make better use of the results of the season. First, the team that placed 4th in the season will play versus the 3rd placed team. The winner of that match will play against the 2nd placed for a spot in the Grand Final versus the team that ranked 1st.
• Matches played in premier division will have to upload STV demos of matches in addition to the (status) screenshots. POV demos are only required upon request.
• Please note that warnings will be given out this season if a match has not been played after the match deadline, unless an admin has been consulted and an extension of the match deadline has been granted.
• As a general reminder we like to note that match comments should be used to record any agreements between two teams regarding the use of mercs, servers or other issues. This way you can ensure easy processing of results, as well as avoiding problems when a dispute arises.

That’s all for this post. Be sure to check the previous post for the new fixed version of Turbine and the updated map list. Stay tuned for more info and details on some upcoming events!

You’ve waited for a while, but now it is finally here: The 9th Main Season in ETF2L’s history! Today, we will reveal the signup schedule as well as the full map schedule. There are plenty of interesting additions this season, so be sure to read on!

Initially the plan was to run 2 full seasons before summer, but that plan was scrapped after some re-thinking and requests. With Season 9 starting in March there should be a smaller gap in summer, and plenty of room for other popular events, maybe even the most famous event of all…

But first, it’s time for the new main season. There will be a fresh wind of maps and rulesets that will hopefully bring a great season for everyone. So gather some friends, find a team, go practise and get ready!

Season 9  Signup Schedule:

• Signups open: Friday March 4th
• Signups close: Friday March 11th
• Seedings published: Tuesday March 15th
• Week 1 start:  Monday March 21st

The Maps

Besides classic old maps like Badlands, Granary, Gravelpit and Gullywash returning to the map pool, there are some new maps, some of which will be quite familiar to ETF2L veterans. With a map schedule that allows for easy preparation and training, the new additions will surely prove interesting. Update: Due to some disclarity, and requests on the size of the map pool, we will be switching Obscure out for another Gullywash and Badlands. Get training!

Warmfront:
Coldfront. Some loved it, some hated it. For both groups the sun will shine happily! Warmfront is an updated version of Coldfront that implements a more natural theme but primarily brings some gameplay changes and improvements that should hopefully make the non-believers see light.

Download: cp_warmfront

Bazillion:
A new and very intriguing map from Gullywash creator, Arnold. Like Gullywash, Bazillion has seen countless of iterations and betas, hopefully leading to a map that can rival its predecessor. As one of the more exotic maps in the pool it will certainly be interesting to see how it will fare. Be sure to check it out!

Download: cp_bazillion_rc2

Turbine_pro:
An old-time favourite of the map pool has returned with a few twists and changes. First of all, a “pro” version of Turbine was released, which should make the map more dynamic and less confined as well as add some long awaited changes, like the ammo packs on middle. In addition to that, CTF gameplay using multiple rounds has grown in favour recently. Therefore, the new Turbine version will use the following rules:

Turbine rules (it really does)

Turbine will be played with a 30 minute map timer in a round based format. The first team to reach 5 flag captures will win a round. Like Gravelpit, the first team to win 2 rounds will be the winner of the map. If after 30 minutes the teams have won an equal number of rounds, the team leading in captures is the winner. If captures are also equal, a new game with first to 3 captures should be played to decide the winner.

You will not need to change server settings or restart the config between rounds, though you can set mp_winlimit 2 for convenience. The upcoming ETF2L config will handle the other settings by default (tf_flag_caps_per_round 5). With a new rule set and several improvements to the map this will surely be great fun!

Download: ctf_turbine_pro_rc1

Gullywash Update:
One of the most popular custom maps recently received an update. It features some bug-fixes as well as some improvements to CP1.  In spite of – or thanks to – the loss of the iconic water section, CP1 should be harder to turtle now. This updated version grants some great changes and will be used in season 9, so be sure to download it and use it in your future matches!

Download: cp_gullywash pro

Full Map Schedule:

• Week 1: Badlands / Warmfront
• Week 2: Gravelpit / Warmfront
• Week 3: Gravelpit / Granary
• Week 4: Turbine_pro / Granary
• Week 5: Turbine_pro / Gullywash
• Week 6: Badlands / Gullywash
• Week 7: Bazillion / Gullywash
• Week 8: Bazillion / Badlands
• Week 9: Granary / Badlands

Stay tuned for more info on rules and prizes!