Hey there everyone, OtakuScott here. We’ve got a high caliber season in store for us this time, and what a better time to talk about some of the teams, than right at the beginning of Season 10? I’ve done some interviews and some snooping around to create a list of my choices for the top five ESEA-Open teams.
1) Area51 Gaming
With most of the old Open teams moving up to IM, there's been some big changes in the Open team list. Placing at the top of my rankings is Area51Gaming. With the help of Tragic, it shouldn’t be difficult for them to place near the top. As an ex-invite Medic, now playing Pocket, he could easily lead the team to a spot in the playoffs. I managed to snag an interview with NeoRussia, the roaming Soldier for 51.
1. Hi, can you start by telling me a bit about yourself, your background in the game, etc.?
Hi I'm NeoRussia from team Area 51 of Open, and I play the roaming soldier role. I've been playing competitively since around the time of the heavy update and TF2 since the goldrush update, mostly soldier both as pocket and roamer and some scout as well. I've played on teams ranging from open to the lower part of IM and will be competing in open during season 10 of ESEA.
2. Ok, now let's talk about your team. When and how did you guys form, and how has your team changed and evolved thus far?
We formed over some time during the last few matches of Season 9 playoffs. Tragic (our team captain) deciding to play a new class and make his own team for open resulted in him searching for the players that he thought he would be most comfortable playing with and that can compete at his desired level. I got picked up during a pug with tragic after leaving an open team and not finding the right one to join. Milkysoft our medic got the starting role after ringing medic and Tragic finding she has some talent in the medic class, even though she doesn't have much experience playing that class in a competitive format. As for the rest of the team I have not been there to personally see how they came start playing with Tragic, although Dave_AC our current backup scout got picked up to play in the MGE cup until we find a proper starter scout.
3. Which player(s) on your team, in your opinion, will contribute most to your success? Or will it mostly be a team effort?
In my opinion our team has a very DM-heavy mindset individually. It can be hard to command such a team as we are very prone to chasing kills when getting overconfident (this unpredictability is hard to get used to) over doing well or playing teams that we deem to have an easy victory against, but our combo Tragic and Milky have the leadership abilities that allow them to choose smart plays to put us into the best positions with them. This also seems to a reverse effect when dealing with notable teams such as those with invite players and IM experience, where we are set to focus on communication over our personal dm skill. A seemingly perfect combination that with time would make a team show their full potential.
4. What do you think your team needs most to work on?
Other then finding a replacement scout and the DM thing, our other problems are rather minor. To name one milky is rather new to medic but having an ex-invite medic for a pocket puts her in the best possible place to be confident enough to show her talent for her class, which she has quite a lot to show.
5. How far do you predict your team to make it/what would you say your chances of winning are?
It's hard to say at the moment because I don't have the experience to gauge how well a new open team will do just by their players. But what I can say is that we are looking to play in the top open bracket and all of us are quite confident we will make playoffs.
6. Do you guys think having ex-invite Medic (now pocket) Tragic gives you an edge over the other teams in open?
Tragic is well suited for his leadership role and it's great that we have him to make calls from an invite perspective. Even I personally have learned much about the game just from how he tells us how we should conduct mid fights. He does have some high expectations, but I'm sure we will meet many of them as season 10 rolls in. As for the competitive edge compared to other teams I believe all the top open teams have gotten to the top with their own advantages, and Tragic is definitely ours.
7. Thanks for your time. Any shoutouts?
I'd like to give a shoutout to MR. SLIN for being an amazing medic, Blaze for hanging out in our mumble channel, MemphisVon for sharing some roaming tips, and our backups jonas, rave, spammy, and IDK Ramown. I would also like to give honarable mentions to; Ndy (Mr.Sticky Spammer), pt_ and goldy (WITNESS 22d), Namlay, kuza (for his amazing dedication to TF2), cbear, khorma, Reimu (my bestest bro), notor (gay), aaronlol (going big in SC2), cash (the legend of 50), Garticuno (<3), Kalkin (grats on ESEA admin!), Deth (the cute medic), Vhalin (for keeping me on his friend's list), Zbryan (Zbryan), and wrech aka big will for being a bro.
Area51 Gaming Lineup
http://esea.net/teams/55724
Medic: MilkySoft
Pocket: Tragic
Roamer: NeoRussia
Scout #1: Emperor
Scout #2: TBA
Demoman: Chriz Tah Fah
Backups (the official ones): Dave_AC, Jonas, Rave, Sp4mmy
more after the break...
2) BANNED FROM eHARMONY
Coming in second for my Open Season 10 predictions is BANNED FROM eHARMONY. Placing near the top of Open last season, they make a valiant return to Open. I’ve snagged an interview with BOLT and he goes over the buzz with me.
1. Hi, can you start by telling me a bit about yourself, your background in the game, etc.?
Hey, I'm BOLT, I play demoman for Banned From Eharmony. I started playing competitive tf2 during February of 2009. I started as a scout for the team [GGG] in twl division 3 season 4. I shifted towards demoman at the end of twl season 5 when I decided I wanted to play demoman. I played with [GGG] in division 2 of twl season 6. I left the team after we went 7-1 in the division. I joined treason for season 7 of ESEA-O. We went 10-6 and 2-2 in playoffs. After that, I took a break from competitive tf2 for a season. Last season I played for Treason in ESEA-IM and played with Avoided during the end of the season and playoffs. The team died due to lack of interest, and I went around looking for a team. Then one day Freddy (amazon) and Che messaged me, and the rest was history.
2. Ok, now let's talk about your team. When and how did you guys form, and how has your team changed and evolved thus far?
Well, I wasn't involved in the forming of Banned From Eharmony, but I believe the team started in Season 8. Our team has changed quite a bit due to roster changes.
3. Which player(s) on your team have, in your opinion, will contribute most to your success? Or will it mostly be a team effort?
I feel like it will be quite influential to have Basik play soldier for us again now that his computer is not dead, but honestly, I believe that a team effort with definitely lead us to success in the upcoming season.
4. What do you think your team needs most to work on?
I think we need to work on our cohesion and sticking together.
5. How far do you predict your team to make it/what would you say your chances of winning are?
I feel like we'll do quite well in ESEA-IM.
6. Do you think, despite your roster shakeups, you'll be set for this season?
I think our roster is definitely changed for the better. I think with the addition of Basik, SteveC, and I we will be bringing some more experience to the team.
7. Thanks for your time. Any shoutouts?
I would like to thank Che, Basik, SteveC, Freddy, Shrugger, Skaboss (for paying my league fees and being a bawss), everyone on Avoided, Kuza (for being like a father to me), Mattertea, Slow_down (teh best), Mustardoverlord, Spookyman-X, Vincenator, Ripperman, Grimm, Dr. Salvador, Blaze, Tree, You Must Recover!!!, everyone on Snooplicity and Simplicity, eXtv people
SteveC Shoutouts:
pdaymp v2
ctrl+f muffin
binarystar
kurt TRUKTRUK Ross
Che
Shrugger
Facerolla
MaskedJackal
RIP Remedy
Dave__AC
ConnectFour
Shoutouts to:
SHOUTOUT TO WE PLAY HOOP
SteveC
dr ogo
TECHNOSEX
Spanker
rando
Work
Kapowww
Work"
The stockwell brothers
TLR
REEMIX
Malice Wong
Movie night
mumble:66.228.52.253 port 36040
dchow
ChimpFeet
gTea
bulldozer
Carl+
CHE
Harbleu
and his friends
Toxoplasma
RIP leogeo2
sinner
SHOUTOUTS TO the teams in open s9...
BANNED FROM eHARMONY
schicken with schicken
Team Bad v2
10 POINTS TO GIFFYNDOR
Man Mode Enabled
TF2 is for casuals
Binary Gaming
The Jabronies
SID
slap yo momma tf2 gaming
srsly br0
Vehemence(RIP)
kntc-Kick it Old School"
NerdStars
Fruit Vendors
Age is Just a Number
Global Deejays
say Ambitions Debt
Unibroue
Pink Name Crew
Midnight Society
Chemical Reaction
Team Sick Nasty
PROkemans
Fragnetic Gaming TF2
iCarly Fan Club"
Cevo Top 20
Errday"
The Dirty Half Dozen
shrug
The ProLifers
Undique Venit Mors
DAFT
C2_TF2(RIP)
The Poms
Seven Gram Rocks
tainted karma
+ dead teams in open
BANNED FROM eHARMONY Lineup
http://esea.net/teams/46944
Medic: CHE_
Soldier #1: Freddy
Soldier #2: Basik
Scout #1: Shrugger
Scout #2: SteveC
Demoman: BOLT
3) The Pharmacy
Placing third is The Pharmacy. Rx placed positive in last season, and made it to playoffs. With many players switching around, it could be a totally different season for rx. Here’s what Cranberry had to say:
1. Let's talk about your team. When and how did you guys form, and how has your team changed and evolved thus far?
Our core players were the only ones kept around : Huey and Beat. The rest of the players were added in hopes of starting a competitive team, which caused our team to have a rocky start due to the fact it was everyone’s first time in ESEA; however, we did fairly well during this past season. Our team faced problems at the end of the season causing us to drop our medic, Overseer. We then placed our original medic, SolidMetalSnake, back on our roster. Our decision of him not competing this past season was due to his work schedule change. Considering his newly changed work schedule, he is able to practice with our team consistently. SolidMetalSnake has good chemistry with each member, is a team player, and exceeds any expectation in dedication to this team, which is hard to find in players. I believe with his addition we will be able to succeed as a whole.
2. Which player(s) on your team have, in your opinion, will contribute most to your success? Or will it mostly be a team effort?
Team Fortress is a game based upon the collaboration of a team; not a single player. There is no single person who can contribute more than the other. Our team objectives in consistent practice are to find ways to work as a team which in turn brings out the potential in each player. From a personal stand, I have had a very hard time trying to control my over-extending but since the end of the season I really set my mind to changing this because all of the advice from the community pretty much summed up to: "Cranberry, you have great DM but you extend too much. Learn to play more passively and your team can be really successful." But we all give each other advice during scrims if we ever see mistakes, we take note and talk about how we can correct it after the scrim.
3. What do you think your team needs most to work on?
As mentioned before, the main issue this team has had and has been worked on is my extending. We still work on trying to keep the team together and alive throughout scrims instead of being picked off one by one. We are learning when to fall back and decreasing our aggressiveness once we take down the opposing medic. We are also learning how to take advantage of the heal advantage while buffing the team, followed by us attacking.
4. How far do you predict your team to make it/what would you say your chances of winning are?
We are expecting this season to be our best so far, hopefully ranking in top 3 in the league. Although we have brought on two players, Spadez and Solidmetalsnake, our team has grown with confidence as we have weeded out the negative players.
5. Do you think, despite your roster shakeups, you'll be set for this season?
We are ready, we've been waiting to show everybody how much we have improved since last season. We've worked really hard in the off season and we're looking to come out and dominate.
6. Thanks for your time. Any shoutouts?
First shoutout is to Xanax, he makes sure everything is taken care of and all of us our happy. He is our team manager, and also a backup because he's a very busy guy. It sucks we don't get enough playtime with him but without him, this team would not be together.
Secondly, I want to shoutout to PureGSP, our server and mumble sponsor. We are mostly west coast and Chicago has terrible routing but I am amazed by how good the connection is with their servers. I highly recommend and I wanna thank Joseph for the sponsorship.
Thirdly, shoutout to all the players out there who have taken the time to come in mumble and mentor our team. Including: Vhalin, Boogie/Chaz, Namlay, Bloodsire, Techdude. Thanks guys, you've helped greatly.
9:03 AM - huey: shoutout to tmpfor being fat
9:03 AM - huey: and shoutout to huey for carrying the team
9:05 AM - яx . Cranberry es @ GeForce 6: Shoutout to RedrumDullBear, GET HIM A TEAM! good demoman! Also PureGSP servers! www.puregsp.com
12:43 PM - spike da dragon: shoutout to spadez and huey for carrying me, and mlp to calm my senses when huey goes insane.
The Pharmacy TF2 Lineup
http://esea.net/teams/50843
Medic: SolidMetalSnake
Pocket: huey
Roamer: R1cky
Scout #1: Beat^
Scout #2: Spadez
Demoman: Cranberry
4) Enter The Goku
Although not a past playoff team, a lot of familiar faces are seen in Enter The Goku who nab the fourth place spot for top five in open. I chatted with Reimu a bit about his new team, and he had lots to say.
1. Hi, can you start by telling me a bit about yourself, your background in the game, etc.?
Well I play roaming soldier, I did actually play scout and sniper back in the day. But now I play roamer. I'm usually the one that jumps around dealing damage for the scouts to clean up after most of the time. Either that or I go behind people and do some crazy shit with the equalizer.
2. Ok, now let's talk about your team. When and how did you guys form, and how has your team changed and evolved thus far?
Well we formed not to long ago really, about a month ago perhaps, and well we have been progressing even though it has been a month.
3. Which player(s) on your team have, in your opinion, will contribute most to your success? Or will it mostly be a team effort?
Our scouts snaps and downpour deal most of the great damage and clean up kills, And our pocket Auburn is also a great help, and of course our demoman and medic, mormon and cantarella, are both great, so it's practically a team effort.
4. What do you think your team needs most to work on?
We could use a lot of practice on our mid fights especially involving granary and some of our last pushes.
5. How far do you predict your team to make it/what would you say your chances of winning are?
I predict that we would make at least 3rd place. We have a good shot at beating many teams that are our skill level but we will see what happens.
6. Do you think, despite being a newer team, you still have a shot at Playoffs?
Well yeah, I mean if you practice a lot yes you could end up like some teams like Avoided.
7. Thanks for your time. Any shoutouts?
Shoutout to enter the goku, my great steam friends, ma3la, hes a great person, all of the new/current tf2 na teams, and everything else I forgot!
Enter The Goku Lineup
http://esea.net/teams/54207
Medic: Cantarella
Pocket: Auburn
Roamer: Reimu
Scout #1: ‘snaps
Scout #2: _downpour
Demoman: mormon
5) 3 Pistoles aka Unibroue
Finally, the all Francais Canadien team, Unibroue nabs the spot for fifth team in ESEA Open. I spoke with cinq, and here’s what he had to say:
1. Hi, can you start by telling me a bit about yourself, your background in the game, etc.?
Hi, I am cinq, I started playing TF2 about 3 years ago, what got me into this game was the heavy update. I saw meet the heavy on the front page of Digg and that made me want to try out that game. It tickled my curiosity. The game was pretty cheap as I remember. I played casually for a good while. Then I got laid me off at my job, I started playing more and more since I had a lot of free time. Somehow I found waar's competitive guide and I started playing on #tf2.gather.us. The system was pretty broken as I remember and even admins wanted a better bot for their channel so in a couple days I coded one from scratch. We couldn't put it on their channel since the people who owned it were Europeans and they weren't too connected with the admins. I started #tf2.pug.na and I did run it for a little bit more than a year. I left for various reasons but mainly because I was very busy with my new job and felt I couldn't take care of it properly during a long term period.
2. Ok, now let's talk about your team. When and how did you guys form, and how has your team changed and evolved thus far?
They were already a team when I joined them (last season). To be honest I couldn't tell you how exactly they formed. I think they formed like at least a year before I joined them. Personally the main reason I went ahead and contacted their leader was because they are all from my province and speak French like me. It was during mid season so there was a lot of uncertainties regarding what was going to happen. I filled the pocket position and harassed my friend kaypin to join us, which is also a French Canadian like us. We lost 2 players at the end of this season but we replaced them with fresh blood and move the other ones on backup.
3. Which player(s) on your team have, in your opinion, will contribute most to your success? Or will it mostly be a team effort?
At the moment it's pretty hard to judge. If I had to take a guess I would say SharKill since he has gained a good amount of experience from the last season and that matters a lot for a demoman. I would also expect good performances from our new medic LtCrumpet since he's proven to be a solid player on this class. But overall I think our success will come from a team effort.
4. What do you think your team needs most to work on?
At the moment what we need to work on the most would probably be coordination and team awareness. They are both linked anyway. After one season we improved a lot regarding our communications, our DM and our understanding of the 6V6 gamestyle. But we are still lacking on these 2 majors points in my opinion. A simple example I can give would be like, a great call is made regarding an open flank or a spot in the map where it's clear from any major traps, the call is made but the core of the team will fail to use that opportunity and we won't gain an advantage from it. There's much more than just that. An other big point is our team awareness. Like our demoman is doing a nice amount of damage but for some reasons the players around him weren't paying attention and are missing the opportunity to capitalize on it. Or we are going down one by one without realizing the opposing team's gonna crush us in a couple seconds because of the situation. The main classes are staying too far up and they are getting caught because they failed to pay attention to the state of the game.
5. How far do you predict your team to make it/what would you say your chances of winning are?
Our chances of winning the title? We have some like every other teams in open with experienced players on their roster but I can't take a wild guess so early in the season and call our chances. I expect us to make the playoffs but I am also aware that anything can happen. I rather play every single matches like they will be hard. I do think that once again this season we will see a good amount of teams in open that will come out very strong at the end.
6. Anything you'd like to add?
Checkout http://atf2.org/ it's a project of mine, I am trying to make an easy to use and accessible IRC client. Also, I apologize to everybody for when I'm acting dumb, I sometime like to flame, troll or act arrogant.
7. Thanks for your time. Any shoutouts?
Your welcome, thanks for interviewing me and thanks for putting that together. Yeah sure I had like to do some. Shoutout to pingu for all the hard work he has done on #tf2.pug.na to help this channel afloat and also for starting natf2.com. Shoutout to all my past team members, I got good memories playing with all of you. Shoutout as well to people who are contributing into competitive TF2, I can name a few : lpkane, cb-, pingu, jiin, eXtine, floormaster, lange, flame, daniel, I know there's a lot more but yeah if you feel interpelled by this then take those thanks you from me.
3 Pistoles (Unibroue) Lineup
http://esea.net/teams/52146
Medic: Lt.Crumpet
Pocket: Wintersun
Roamer: Cinq
Scout #1: SidaR
Scout #2: DZK_
Demoman: SharKill
