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Without further delay, the next long awaited 6s season. We welcome you to ETF2L 6v6 Season 53 (Autumn 2026). Signups are now OPEN and roster locks have been lifted! As always please check out the rest of this post about the upcoming season. Please complete the below Feedback Polls from 6v6 Season 52 (Summer 2026). Feedback from the player base is always appreciated and is the foundation for our decisions as ETF2L staff.

Schedule

• Signups: NOW! – October 8th at 18:00 CEST (late joining is possible until the end of the first week of the Group Stages for Swiss Divisions, Prem & D1/D2 will close on October 6th at 23:59 CEST)
• Provisional Tiers: 8th/9th October
• Final Tiers: 11th/12th October
• Main Season: 12th October – 29th November (7 Weeks)
• Playoffs: 30th November – 14th December (3 Weeks)

Setup

Roster Lock

We will be maintaining a roster lock starting on the 8th of October (after sign-ups close), after which players can only join through admin requests instead. This will be possible up until the start of the last week of the regular season after which no new players will be able to join teams.

For all divisions players cannot be more experienced (in accordance with rule 2.7) than the tier of the team they want to join. Experience in other leagues is also included.

Between the signup deadline and the season start we might be more lenient when it comes to players, however adding higher skilled players will affect your team’s seeding.

We would love to explore potential rule changes surrounding late joining and player experience, if you have any suggestions, please use the Season 52 feedback polls linked above.

Class Restrictions

Outside of offclassing (see below), we will try to avoid class restrictions at the start of the season, however based on feedback from previous seasons we will be applying limited restrictions on specific players. This means that teams might have large skill gaps between its players but we’re trying to put a bit more emphasis on allowing people to play with their friends on the class they enjoy playing the most. For this purpose we are also employing Division helpers for Season 53 as we did in the previous seasons. Outliers may still be restricted.

Are you interested in being a division helper for 6v6 Season 53? Sign up below!

Offclasses

We will be applying restrictions on the following offclasses:

• Sniper
  • Players who have played this class in Highlander High and above will be restricted from the class in Mid and below.
  • Players who have played this class in Highlander Mid and above will be restricted from the class in Open.
• Pyro, Heavy
  • Players who have played these classes in Highlander High and above will be restricted from the class in Low and below.

Proposed restrictions will be announced during the provisional tiers.

Map Pool

The map pool for 6v6 Season 53 is as follows, this will be streamlined across all divisions and is comprised of competitive TF2’s core maps.

• cp_sunshine
• cp_process_f12
• cp_gullywash_f9
• cp_metalworks_f7
• cp_granary_pro_rc17a3
• koth_product_final
• koth_bagel_rc13

Map Rotation

The map rotation for this season will be fixed across all divisions, the pick/ban format will not be used in the regular season.

• Week 1: cp_process_f12 & cp_sunshine
• Week 2: cp_sunshine & koth_bagel_rc13
• Week 3: koth_bagel_rc13 & cp_metalworks_f7
• Week 4: cp_metalworks_f7 & cp_granary_pro_rc17a3
• Week 5: cp_granary_pro_rc17a3 & cp_gullywash_f9
• Week 6: cp_gullywash_f9 & koth_product_final
• Week 7: koth_product_final & cp_process_f12

Config

For the regular season in 5CP we will be using the 4 minute round timer config, the regular 5cp config has been updated to this effect.

• exec etf2l_6v6_5cp.cfg.

KOTH maps will be played using the regular Best of 3 config.

• exec etf2l_6v6_koth.cfg.

We are considering removing the Golden Cap in the regular season and changing the way that points are allocated, details of this are yet to be determined as planning is ongoing. If changes are made, you can expect this to be announced closer to the season start date.

Playoffs

Playoff information will follow at a later date as ultimately, it will depend on how many signups we get and the way in which divisions shape up.

For Playoffs we will be using the progressive config for 5CP in Premiership, High, Mid & Low.

• exec etf2l_6v6_5cp_prog.cfg.

The Progressive Ruleset incorporates this plugin that creates a dynamic win condition. The 5CP round win limit gets reduced to the current highest score +1 when the match timer runs out. For example, if the score is 1-2 when the map timer runs out, the win limit will be set to 3 and round continues.

The specifics of the progressive ruleset playoffs will look like this:

• The map timer for 5CP maps will be 25 minutes.
• The round timer for 5CP maps will be 4 minutes.
• If a team scores a total of 5 rounds before the end of the map timer, they win the map (winlimit 5).
• If neither team has scored a total of 5 rounds once the map timer runs out, the round winlimit is set to the current highest round score +1. The match continues until one team reaches the new round winlimit.

Fresh Division

We will determine if this division will be used based off of signups. After gathering feedback from Fresh players, we will be more strict on which players are eligible to participate in this division. Players who meet any of the criteria below are not eligible to play in the Fresh division:

• played more than 10 matches in ETF2L Open
• played in ETF2L Open playoffs or above (this does not include cups)
• participated in the playoffs of a previous Fresh season or Fresh Meat Challenge
• played more than 10 matches in RGL Amateur
• participated in RGL Newcomer playoffs

6v6 experience will be considered. Any previous experience from leagues not listed above will be judged on a case by case basis.

Sign-up Process

First and foremost, you must sign your team up here: 

Then, if you are applying for Division 6/Open/Fresh (which are our entry divisions), you do not have to provide any proof that you are capable of playing at that level.

Otherwise, we encourage you to send in an application through the ticket system in our Discord or by directly contacting a league admin, with the following information:

– Team name, Division you apply for and ETF2L team link
– Roster
– Recent results and logs associated to them
– Reasons why your team deserves to be placed in the tier you applied for (optional)

e.g.
– Team BIG EXPLOSION, Premiership, https://etf2l.org/teams/1/
announce the roster with the classes
– 5-2 vs Team Aoshi’s All Stars (Prem) : https://logs.tf/012345

Teams that do not contact the admins risk losing their spot in the division they are asking for. If your team is signing up for the High division, we strongly recommend that you tell us if you are looking to play in Division 1 or Division 2; the same goes for Mid teams that have a preference for Division 3 or Division 4.

Please note that the success of your request also strongly depends on the free slots in the tier you aim for. Established teams will be favoured over new teams or teams that request to jump a tier.

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