The final week of TWL has arrived! With many teams still jockeying for a playoff spot, and the rest looking to finish strong this should be exciting week all across the board. This weeks matches will be played on cp_yukon, a map that many teams are familiar with but still provides plenty of upsets. There are several really good games being played this week and even a few sneak peaks at possible playoff matches.
Once again, I didn't have time to finish writing predictions for Div4. I know I said I would include them this week but there are just to many teams and I honestly don't know many players or teams in div4 so my comments would be rather... generic. But I promise I will be predicting for all the divisions once the playoffs arise.
Click after the break to bring on the predictions!
A while back, Wanderful made a post announcing that CommunityFortress's Map Testing Team would be deciding the maps for CEVO Season 5, which will begin after the upcoming RUSH tournament has wrapped up.
Our job was not easy. In seasons past, I couldn't help but feel that leagues were hurting for a lack of decent maps to choose from. This season, however, we had no shortage of maps. Both Valve and the Team Fortress 2 community's custom mappers presented us with a number of great options, and it's a bit of a disappointment that we're limited to only 10 maps between both the pre-season and regular season.
In the end, the map rotation we decided on was this:
Badlands
Granary
Gravelpit
Yukon
Turbine
Obscure
Indulge
Gorge
(Order not yet decided at this point.)
We realize that some of these picks might be surprising, so a bit of explanation is in order.
After an exciting week of cp_yukon with a lot of matches between teams at the top of the standings, and some very unexpected blowouts, we’re heading into the final week of the regular season on cp_granary. From what I have heard, the jury is still out on whether there will be 12 or 16 teams in playoffs (up from 8 last Season), a decision that will be made sometime after February 12th. According to djfivenine’s math, teams with at least ten wins will definitely qualify, which only 5 teams currently have. 7 other teams have 8 or 9 wins, making this a key week to see who ends up in playoffs. Today, I will be making arbitrary assertions about who I think will win some of the closest/most important matchups, commonly known as predictions.
Edited together from your submitted demos by Lange and commentary by eXtine, Community Fortress proudly presents it's Top 10 plays of TF2 for January 2010.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel if you haven't already! And hold onto those demos for next months edition!
The Intel LAN Fest Howies SoCal is taking place later this month in Mission Viejo (Los Angeles) on the 26th, 27th, and 28th. This event will be hosting a TF2 tournament on Saturday (the 27th) from 11AM until 3PM. You can see the full game tournament list HERE. A number of teams and competitive players have expressed interest in this event on both GotFrag and on the event forums. If you're interested in attending, check out the site of the event and the general information below:
Event Areas
We have the traditional BYOC where people Bring Their Own Computer, connect to a Local Area Network (LAN) and play with friends.
We also have rental spaces that include a great Howie's game machine.
Tickets and Prices
All Access BYOC:
$25 BYOC pre-sale online (till February 19th)
$30 BYOC online and at the door starting February 19th
Includes one (1) seat with network hookup, 3.0A of power and allows participation in all BYOC events and tournaments.
All Access Rental: 1) $35 Rental pre-sale online (till February 19th) 2) $40 Rental Online and at the door starting February 19th
That’s right, the European version of Steam Powered User Forums (SPUF) 6v9 is back! Having done it once before, I’m confident this event will be even more popular, especially since it’s getting a lot more publicity!
Where are my manners? Hi, I’m Shintaz, the organiser of this event. The event pits six of the best Europe has to offer in the world of TF2 vs nine regular guys... the “pubbers”. All those guys that mutter on the STV’s about how much better they are than all the big shots – it’s their time to prove themselves!
So how is this going to work? Well, we all know the standard 6v6 layout: Medic limit 1, Demo limit 1, Class limit 2. The twist is that the pubbers will be playing in the highlander setup – Class limit 1. That’s right, one of each class.
There are currently 14 teams signed up for the CEVO NZXT RUSH tournament which was announced nearly two weeks ago. CEVO is looking for 32 teams in this event and plans to have the first matches scheduled for Monday, February 15th. So in the next nine days, CEVO is looking for 18 more teams. If you haven't heard about this event, you can click the link above or read below:
Tournament Details:
- Double elimination RUSH tournament - 32 team maximum - $5 entry fee per person - All standard CEVO rules apply
As I mentioned in the aforementioned linked article, this event has an impact on CEVO Season 5:
- Teams placing 1-3 in the RUSH tournament get free entry into CEVO-P for Season 5. - Teams placing 4-8 in the RUSH tournament get invitations to play in the free CEVO-Main division.
Click HERE to go to see the teams currently signed up.
I have played scout since I started competitive TF2 back in mid 2008. However, with the need of a medic on my last team, I decided to drop the scattergun and pick up the medigun. Sure, it was pretty simple in the beginning: I learned the heal priorities pretty quickly, understood watching my flank (because I was basically a flank scout for 2 years), knew to always be aware of my escape routes, and had a badass pocket soldier that made sure I didn't get picked easily. Everything was all peachy--until we started playing at a higher level. We started scrimming top ESEA open teams and invite teams, and the game just became 10x faster than what I felt comfortable with. I have also realized the pressure on the team medic. While your teammates could make small mistakes around you and life would be fine 20 seconds later, the smallest movement or communication mistake you make could cost your team the round. With all these issues and questions in my head, I decided to sit down with some of the experts of the trade and ask them a few questions about what it takes to play medic at the highest level of TF2.
I am not sure if you guys have heard about it but there is a LAN going down in Montreal this spring with TF2 as one of the tournament games. The event goes by the name of LAN ETS and the operators are offering $2000 for the top three finishers in the TF2 tournament. There will also be tournaments for CS:S, CS 1.6, COD4, Quake Live, DotA, NHL2010, and Guitar Hero. Lopert, a moderately well-known name in the competitive community, has suggested a map rotation for the event on their forums:
Je commence ce thread pour savoir quel maps vont etre jouer dans le tournoi de TF2. Pour donner une idée du standard, cet derniere saison de ESEA, la liste etait :
Mon expérience me laisse l'impression que les maps en ordre de plus populaire à moins populaire est: Top3 / Tier 1: cp_badlands, cp_granary, cp_gravelpit Tier 2: ctf_turbine, cp_freight, koth_viacduct Tier 3: cp_yukon_final, cp_follower
Donc ma question est, quel maps seront dans le tournoi de TF2?
En passant, si il y a qqn qui suggère 2fort, je vous étrippe
Of course if you can't speak French, you can probably only get the gist of what he's asking. Translation, courtesy of moi, below:
I will start a thread for discussion of which maps should be played in the TF2 tournament. To give an idea of the standard, aka the last season of ESEA, the list was:
My experience leaves me with the impression that the maps, in order of the most popular to the least popular, are: Top3 / Tier 1: cp_badlands, cp_granary, cp_gravelpit Tier 2: ctf_turbine, cp_freight, koth_viacduct Tier 3: cp_yukon_final, cp_follower
So my question is, what maps will be in the TF2 tournament?
Btw, if someone suggests 2fort, I will strangle you
So this event is on the same weekend as the ESEA-I LAN so we probably can't expect the very top teams to attend but the competitive community still needs to make a strong showing. It looks like there are only 3 teams signed up so far and they are looking for around 20. If you live in the area, you must attend this event and represent the competitive community. LANs are vital to the game's continued growth. If you are planning on attending, please contact me because I want someone to cover it for the site (along with the ESEA LAN).
7iS is a team that is actively trying to get better. Unfortunately, our roster has been very unstable. If we can get a solid medic quickly enough, we...
