CommunityFortress

ESEA-I S5 has come and gone, finishing up with a successful LAN playoffs where some of the most intense TF2 matches in a long time were played.  The offseason certainly wasn't devoid of storylines with rapid roster changes, team formations, and player movement marking the scene.  In antipication for Season 6 the teams Apocalypse Gaming, Area 51, Our World Now (now Blight), and Evil Geniuses will be previewed.  Look for Part 2 containing the remaining 4 teams to be coming soon.

Apocalypse Gaming

The Introduction:
Projected Starting Lineup:
Scouts – zAlfy, TYRANNYLOL
Soldiers – Otter, x[sephy]
Demoman – You Must Recover!!!
Medic – Sigma

Apocalypse Gaming (AG) is the newest and final team to be placed in this season’s Invite Division after the Businessmen passed up on the opportunity to do so after winning the user-voting process.  An exceedingly likable team filled with personalities such as You Must Recover!!!, who might very well be the nicest guy in TF2, and Sigma, who constantly goes out of his way to post absurdly in-depth and useful topics on strategy on the CommFT forums, the AG crew is already a community favorite after their successful season in the Open division.

The Outlook:
The core of AG has been together for a little while now since they originally formed as Jammin’ With Jammar and there is no questioning their commitment.  AG will likely hold the title of “Team That Practices the Most” throughout the season by a wide margin, with really only eMg being even close.  Despite having top-tier understanding of the TF2 metagame coming from Sigma, a stable roster, and plenty of practice and preparation under their belts, really the question comes down to whether or not AG possess the raw deathmatching skills to hang with the upper level teams.  Most of the AG members have hovered around the high open level and developed a good name for themselves but have never quite managed to break into the Invite ranks.  The exception to that is zAlfy, a largely unknown commodity who seemingly came out of nowhere to make an extremely impressive rise.  Starting off with the lower level community AG team just a few months ago, he will now be the starting Scout on an invite roster with Jammar relinquishing his starter duties due to scheduling issues.  All of these players will be looking to prove that they have the DM chops to hang with the invite crowd, because honestly they have everything else they need to be successful.

The Prediction:
Unfortunately, as well liked as AG is and despite how hard they practice, it is difficult to imagine a wildly successful season in terms of win/loss record and playoff eligibility.  They will likely steal a few rounds off of underprepared teams on new maps such as cp_coldfront and cp_mainline but it’s hard to see them pulling off any major upsets against the top teams like complexity and EG.  Preparation and strategy help, but in the end it will hard to be successful when being simply outmatched when it comes down to landing shots.  They won’t go winless this season, but their playoff odds are probably the lowest of the invite teams as it currently stands in their first season of Invite.

Area 51

The Introduction:
Projected Starting Lineup:
Scouts – Bloodsire, stamjally/DL
Soldiers – cbear, FastFire
Demoman – Ducky
Medic – CB

Area 51, formerly Muscle Milk and Moolians, was the darling team that captured our hearts last season of ESEA-I, pulling off some major upsets on route to the #3 seed in the playoffs.  Unfortunately due to a sudden collapse of their sponsor and the inability to find someone willing to front the costs to go to Dallas on such short notice, they were forced to pass up on their spot.  Returning this season with a new sponsor and a mindset to recapture the playoff spot they missed out on last season, they will be a team to be watched throughout the season.  There is a slight roster issue to note, being that stamjally might not be the week-in, week-out starter.  Due to being busy with real life, issues that the jack-of-all-trades backup DL shares, it is unclear who will be starting from week to week.  Stamjally probably brings a little bit more to the table as a Scout, but DL is more than capable himself while also possessing top-level utility skills as a Spy.  Stamjally has confirmed that he will be playing in the first match against coL for CEVO-P, but past that it might be day-to-day on who is starting for this team opposite of Bloodsire when the ESEA season starts.

The Outlook:
On paper, Area 51 isn’t the scariest team out there.  They have a rock solid medic in CB and a Soldier and Scout combo with plenty of experience under their belts, but not many of the Area 51 players strike the fear of God into your heart just by looking at their name.  In many respects, Area 51 is likely the team that the Invite newcomers AG and eMg will be looking to emulate.  While they don’t carry many “big names” on their roster, they are plenty capable and experienced as individuals none the less.  They have extraordinary teamwork and chemistry and really exemplify the cliché “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” that was what helped propel them to such heights last season despite a lack of multiple top-tier fraggers.  The other card that 51 has in their favor is their Demoman, ducky.  The phrase “multiple top-tier fraggers” was used in the last sentence because they without question have one in ducky.  It’s astounding that people still don’t mention him as one of the best Demomen in the game, but make no mistake he is.  Ducky sets up nearly everything that 51 does, dealing obscene amounts of damage and having a knack for making clutch plays.  In a 1v1, it’s hard to pick out many players in all of NA TF2 that you could pick to beat ducky’s Demoman and feel very confident about it, regardless of class.

The Prediction:
This is a team that qualified as a #3 seed for the playoffs last season, and I see no reason why they won’t be making the playoffs again this year.  They really hit their stride when they inserted cbear for warped, and the self-proclaimed King of TWL will be there with them as a starter from the get-go this year.  Even with EG’s roster troubles it is difficult to say that Area 51 will be able to usurp them or coL for one of the top two seeds, but they should be considered favorites for the #3 seed and a contender to make the finals once the playoffs come about.

Our World Now

The Introduction:
Projected Starting Lineup:
Scouts – smaka, oPlaiD
Soldiers – Platinum, sequel
Demoman – boogie
Medic – blackymonster

Our World Now is a new team for this season which began as a curious mix of the Blight LAN team, Vires, and Hostile Faction.  Originally started up by drone, who has since departed the team and been replaced by blackymonster, it certainly represents an intriguing combination of players.  Several of the players are accustomed to and proven at very high levels of play, while others don’t have quite the recent invite-level exposure but are none the less talented.  Fortunately, Our World Now does intend to change their name to something less terrible sometime in the near future, which everybody is thankful for.

The Outlook:
There is no denying some of the talent and experience on this roster.  It is hard to find a Scout who has been around longer or played on more outstanding teams than oPlaiD, who showed he still has what it takes to play at a high level this past March at the LAN Playoffs.  Sequel too proved his worth there, not that there was any doubt of it beforehand, as the late-added substitute put on an outstanding performance even without the Equalizer at his disposal.  These two players along with Platinum provide a rock solid and experienced foundation for a team to be built around.  The remaining three players on the roster have all played at the ESEA-I/CEVO-P level before, but smaka hasn’t done so for a few seasons now, and blackymonster has only minimal experience playing Medic at that level.  While they certainly have talent, the transition back to the top level of play in addition to switching classes might take some time. 

The Prediction:
On the outside looking in.  Our World Now should be in the hunt for the final playoff seed, but they will have stiff competition.  The Pandemic squad along with TBA (listed as Mindbomb in CEVO) both will provide a healthy dose of competition for this team and both of those teams have a lot more experience than this group does.  Our World Now (they honestly can’t change their name to something better soon enough ) likely has an upset or two in them and should provide some close matches, but in the end will probably fall a spot or two short of the playoffs.

UPDATE:  Blight has picked up Our World Now since I wrote this article, meaning the name change we were all hoping for has happened.

Evil Geniuses

The Introduction:
Projected Starting Lineup:
Scouts – CyZeR, Reptile
Soldiers – pheLon, yaug
Demoman – destro
Medic – casey

What a wild ride EG took us all on throughout the course of the offseason.  What started out with pairing Seagull and Reptile, two players who are pretty much options 1A and 1B in the “Who is the best soldier in NA TF2?” argument, in addition to adding ruwin as a Scout while cutting SycknesS and pheLon soon fell apart.  Ruwin and Seagull left the roster before some people even realized they were on it, provoking a string of moves.  Reptile went to Scout, yaug was picked up and pheLon was welcomed back to the team in a whirlwind of activity.  The final (well, for now anyways) EG roster is studded with star players and big names, but it has always been that way in the past and it has yet to yield a season title. 

The Outlook:
The big question is, of course, whether or not EG will be able to finally break the “EG Curse” and deliver a championship to the organization.  The past seasons have seen EG losing CyZeR, sycknesS, and most recently destro to sudden and unforeseen circumstances for the playoffs, leaving the team just to wonder what could have been.  Whether this season’s roster is even any better than the roster from this previous season is even a question.  Reptile, playing his third class at as his main now (Medic next?), might very well prove to be an upgrade over sycknesS’ scouting.  However whether he or CyZeR will be able to fill the shoes of the go-to Sniper on maps such as Viaduct or Gravelpit remains a very big question.  Yaug is an extraordinarily talented Soldier, however trying to take over Reptile’s role would be difficult for anyone.  Casey remains likely the best Medic in TF2 and destro will of course be as solid as ever, as well as hopefully being passport-issue free whenever the playoffs come around.  EG will have to hope that they manage to get their starting 6 to a playoffs intact for once and finally get over that postseason hump.

The Prediction:
Even with the roster turmoil, gossip, pickups, drops, and class switches, this is no doubt a playoff team and will likely be a #1 or #2 seed heading into the playoffs.  The regular season has never been EG’s problem though.  They, along with coL, will be favorites to make the Finals, but teams such as TBA/Mindbomb, Area 51, and Blight.pandemic will be looking to take advantage of those postseason struggles and knock them out of the postseason early.  If they can get their starting 6 to the playoffs without someone being deported, their computer breaking, or some other natural disaster I’m going to pencil them in for the Finals, but past seasons show that to be a very, very big “if.”