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).
It’s been a while since the last post about the Compubbers team, so I’m gonna start off with a quick recap:
Competitive TF2 is often seen as “a chore, not fun, you don’t play for fun, not the real TF2” and more things like that. To clear up these and many more uninformed views, Up and I have taken 7 randomEuropean pubbers from the steamforums, given them a Mumble + server and had them play and go through strategies with Wildcard and mentor sessions with Byte, A Seagull, Torden and Predz. As a team, they’ve signed up for Division 6 in ETF2L Season 7 and play the whole season while relaying their opinions on competitive play.
The provisional divisions were announced a few days back, and we can now truly say we’re signed up for Division 6 and got a spot. They’ve finished the whole pre-season of practice, the actual season will begin Monday the 8th of February. We asked the team and the leaders for their thoughts:
Team:
CmP| LehFreakshow: We're going to get rolled to hell. We'll have a shitload of fun along the way, though. Definitely looking forward to it though.
CmP| Techyworm: We're gonna get rolled. We haven't practised nearly enough, we might win a few matches if we're lucky, but we're not gonna do well.
CmP| dawn: Going to get rolled most likely. Hopefully win a few and it should be good fun.
CmP| GraPh 'a)<3: Gonna Roll them? Well, that's the aim. If Up's pep speech is to believe we have a decent, if not a good chance to at least win some games. Gonna get rolled? Is quite possible but the amount of practice we have put in should serve us fairly well. Gonna be fun? Fuck yeah!
CmP| Dappy (Klash): Wow that's awesome :D... I'm looking for a mid place finish, but we're probably gonna be around bottom since we need as much practice as we can get. It's gonna be alot of fun if we get enough people on every match :p
CmP| TRIPOD :O: I bet we are gonna have loads of fun, but I think we gonna end up in mid/last places because we played other div6 teams and we got rolled at most of them. But I don't play for a good place in the division, I play for fun so I don't really care where we will end up.
CmP| Jeebus[NT]: Should hopefully be fun. I dont see us doing brilliantly, but I dont see us being trashed.
Leaders:
Up: Right now, they're playing fairly strongly. I'm hoping that they'll achieve a low-ish/mid position depending on what the strength of the other teams with them are.
²¹ | WildCard: I can’t see any reason why they won’t enjoy primarily playing in season 7 (which is the idea of the project anyway, which I think we have achieved). Now how they will fair vs the teams? I think they stand a chance of doing well, all depends on which division they get placed in.There are soem good div6 teams in comparison to them. but if they get a lucky draw they are quite capable of finishing top or near the top of their league as long as the team steps up and puts in practice time as a team
cc//Buffalo Bill =HKC=: I think they can do pretty well. Not likely to end up top in their Div, but place 5/6 should be manageable depending on the teams they get bunched with.
The team itself seems to be less than optimistic about their chances than us, but at least they all expect it to be fun which was obviously the main goal! We obviously wish them the best of luck and let’s hope they do well!
Complexity takes on Muscle Milk and Moolians on CP_Yukon tonight. Match starts @ 11PMEastern / 8PMPST. Commentary by eXtine and Wanderrful, w/Schetter running the Camera/Hosting.
MmM are currently in 3rd place with an 8-4 record. With only 4 matches left, all against serious opposition (coLx2,Pandemic,Loaded), MmM needs to ensure they get some wins here to keep their spot, I'd say at least 2.
Complexity is coming off of a fantastic win over blight in the Alienware Arena finals (watch the eXtv coverage if you haven't yet), and are looking full of confidence. Complexity is at it's weakness on the odd maps like Freight or Yukon, but this late in the season I don't think MmM can overcome Complexity's strengths. At 8-3 w/5 matches left, nothing is assured for Complexity. Surely they know that and won't be cutting MmM any slack.
Brace yourself because this is going to be a long one. About two more weeks left until the end of the ESEA season. This has been one of the best TF2 seasons by far. The last few seasons, you could count on one hand how many playoff contenders there will be. But this season in open, I feel like there are 10 or more teams that has a shot at winning the open title. Sure there are favorites, but they do not seem as untouchable as the champions of the past seasons. This is going to be one hell of a playoff run. Speaking of playoffs, I have been bothering ehfk every day about it. I have been pushing the 12 team playoff system to him. 16 teams might be too many and there are more than 8 teams that deserve a shot at the open title. So 12 teams with the top 4 getting 1st round bye is the BEST choice in my opinion. I hope ehfk makes that decision soon and announces it.
A lot of familiar faces on the top 10, so I added some extra material for you guys. I interviewed a random member of each team on the power rankings. Some gave me really long and well thought out answers, others gave me 3 word answers. Either way, it adds a little extra to the write up and I hope you enjoy it. Also, with the assumption of 12 teams being in the playoffs, I wrote my prediction for the 12 teams in the playoffs and their final records.
CommFT is in desperate need of some writers to cover CEVO Season 5. If you are interested in covering the season, I would prefer that you are planning to play in it since this will undoubtedly add some quality (and maybe passion) to your posts. In addition to CEVO writers, we need two individuals to cover ESEA-I on a regular basis. We have ESEA-O covered moderately well at this point but ESEA-I is lacking since Phaser is busy with real life commitments.
One final note - we want someone to thoroughly cover the ESEA LAN event. Articles, pictures, videos, etc. If you are planning on attending and think you will have the time to do this, let me know.
