BlackOut TV – Wednesday 13th 21 CET / 3PM EST  –  Team Colonslash: Express vs. Team Colonslash: Ambition

Baby got back…with more Highlander action! On BlackOut TV join CeeJaey, Maxi & Jon for the first semi-final match of Team Colonslash: Express vs. Team Colonslash: Ambition (that’s a mouthful). A derby match to decide who will be one of the teams in the High Final to have a chance at a spot in Season 10’s Premiership division. In terms of Season 9 weekly results, both sides are pretty much on par with one another but with such a lucrative game for each and the internal tensions between the sides, we could see a very interesting game unfold. Tune in from 21 CET for all the frags!

BlackOut TV 2 – Wednesday 13th 21:15 CET / 3:15PM EST  –  The Bureau vs. UKIP

At the same time, join Heavy Is GPS &  Hildreth on BlackOut TV 2 for The Bureau vs. UKIP as our 2nd semi-final match, the victor here will go on to play one of the Team Colonslash sides in the High Final game. Over the season The Bureau have had an almost clean run, dropping a couple points and drawing to Super Dickmann's KANNONEN!. On the other hand UKIP have 2 losses staining their record, one being a loss to The Bureau in Week 5 on Badwater. Can UKIP turn it around and potential get further to being in Premiership once more or will The Bureau show their dominance for a second time and have a walk in the park during this match? Tune in at 21:15 CET to find out!

3… 2… 1… aaaaaaaaand time’s up! Signups are closed, it is time to have a look at the groups! 

Group Stages

Each team has been seeded into groups of 4. The first two teams of each group will advance to the K.O.-stages, where a 1st placed team will face off against a 2nd placed team in the first round.
The top bracket will play a round robin to determine the seats 1-4.
Default date for all matches is thursday, January 7th at 19:00 CET, 20:00 CET and 21:00 CET respectively. You may reschedule your matches to another day, if – and only if – both teams agree on another date and time. You can propose and accept new dates and times here. Please make sure everything is documented on the respective matchpage.
The matches must be played until sunday and their results submitted no later than sunday, January 10th 23:00 CET.

There might be teams that signed up, but did not get seeded into the cup. This is simply a matter of mathematics- the number of teams in each bracket has be be dividable by 4. If you did not get seeded, you got put on the waiting list. We will add those teams to the cup to replace dropped ones. Please note: we can only replace teams who drop before the start of the tournament. If your team cannot play the group stages, please let us know using the IRC support.

Knockout Stages (January 14th)

The schedule for the Knockout Stages of High, Mid and Open brackets will be as follows:

• 19:00 CET: Quarterfinals – cp_logjam_rc2a
• 20:00 CET: Semifinals – koth_coalplant_b7
• 21:00 CET: Finals  – cp_gravelpit + loser’s pick. The remaining map will be the decider of the Best-of-3 maps final.

Top bracket:

• 19:00 CET: Semifinals – BO3 maps, higher seat picks first, then loser’s pick.
• after Semifinals are done: Finals + 3rd place match – Same mappick system.

For the K.O.-Stages of High and Open #3, two group winners will receive a bye in the first round.

Prizes

Wiethoofd, mastermind behind TF2Pickup.net and whitelist.tf, kindly offered a bunch of killstreak kits out of his own pocket last minute for the top bracket as a recognition of the team’s accomplishment:

• 1st placed team: 6 professional killstreak kits
• 2nd placed team: 6 specialized kilstreak kits
• 3rd placed team: 6 regular killstreak kits
• 4th placed team: Virtual Wooden Spoon :(

Coverage

Our friends from Teamfortress.tv will cover all three Top Bracket rounds! So make sure to tune in at 19:00 CET over on twitch.tv/teamfortresstv!

Head over here for any questions or feedback.

Less rambling, more action! Make sure you have read our >>>announcement from last week<<< and you are set to go hard!

BlackOut TV – Wednesday 6th 21 CET / 3PM EST  –  Strong Opinions vs. Highpander©

So Feila finanzieren durch DROPS could not thwart Highpander©, can Strong Opinions have better luck? Join Maxi, asadawarf & Arjax for the time of your life as Highpander© duke it out with Strong Opinions in their tri-map demolition derby to see who will be the one to take on Tourettes Chessclub in the Grand Final. The three maps will be pl_barnblitz, pl_upward & koth_product played back to back. During the season Highpander© and Strong Opinions drew during their Week 2 game on koth_warmtic and cp_process. Will the result from this semi-final prove more fruitful for Strong Opinions or will Season 8 runner up Highpander© go forth for that chance to regain their gold medal? Tune in on Wednesday 6th January 2016 at 21 CET / 3PM EST to find out!

Match Overview
Strong Opinions vs Highpander©
Playoffs Round 2 (Premiership)
Wednesday, January 6th 21:00 CET

pl_barnblitz_pro6

2 - 0

pl_upward

2 - 0

OVERALL
Strong Opinions [6:0] Highpander©

Tired of Christmas boardgames with your family? Lobbies and mixes just don’t do it anymore? We are kicking off the year 2016 with a brand new 6v6 Cup hosted on ETF2L.org. We all have been longing for 6v6 action since Season 22 and Dreamhack was won by Se7en. So here we go, folks!

The ETF2L 6v6 Preseason 23 Cup

>>>> Sign up for the 6v6 Preseason 23 Cup here! <<<<

Signups are open until Wednesday, January 6th, 21:00 CET! Eligible to participate is any 6v6- or Fun team that has 6 players on the roster at the end of Signups.

The Cup will be divided into two stages:

Thursday, January 7th: Group Stages

• 19:00 CET: Round 1 on koth_coalplant_b7 (played as first to 3)
• 20:00 CET: Round 2 on cp_logjam_rc2a
• 21:00 CET: Round 3 on cp_gravelpit (played as a BO3)

Thursday, January 14th: Knockout Stages

• TBA (on January 8th at the latest, if there are only 4 premiership/top high-level teams signing up, there wont be any group stages for prem)

Depending on signups, we will create brackets of 8 or 16 teams per skill group, dividing them into groups of 4; so you’ll be able to prepare screenshots for Season 23, as well as having close games. Make sure you select the division you’re most likely going to apply for in Season 23 or you think your mix team is capable of handling.

Teams will be seeded first come first serve. Signing up late just before the deadline will not guarantee your team a seed if there aren’t 7 other teams to create a bracket.

Rules/Whitelist

The 6v6 Season 22 rules apply in this cup with the exception of the merc rule. We are allowing one default merc per match. Please only present players as default mercs, that meet the requirements to prevent time consuming discussions (for clarification see point 1.4 of the HL Season 9 rules).

The whitelist that is going to be used is this one (a test-whitelist that is not necessarily going to be the exact same for Season 23, so calm down everyone). Shoutout to whitelist.tf for letting us use their services and setting a preset for the whitelist!
You can also execute the whitelist by typing “rcon tftrue_whitelist_id etf2l_6v6_s23” if you have TFTRUE installed.
TF2Pickup.net has added the new whitelist to their servers. So if you want to test it, go ahead and play some PUGs!

In short, the following weapons have been added/removed to/from the whitelist of Season 22:

+ Pretty Boy’s Pocket Pistol
+ Candy Cane
+ Tide Turner
+ Persian Persuader
+ Pomson 6000
+ Cleaner’s Carbine
+ Panic Attack

– Eviction Notice

… and fixed taunts accordingly to be up to date with the newest set of items.

Prizes

Every 1st, 2nd or 3rd place teams will receive a pixel trophy on their team page and the rights to brag about their achievements.

In any case, there is going to be a newspost before the cup starts. Make sure to check etf2l.org before you play your first round match for all the updates!!

We opened a forumtopic for this cup, feel free to provide us with feedback!

BlackOut TV – Sunday 3rd 21 CET / 3PM EST  –  Highpander© vs. Feila finanzieren durch DROPS

Time for the real highlander to begin with the start of the Season 9 Premiership playoffs! Join CeeJaey, sigafoo & Jon for our first two contenders, the 3rd place squad of Highpander© facing down on Feila finanzieren durch DROPS, our 4th place team. Throughout the season Highpander© have only dropped 2 points; during their Week 3 official with Feila finanzieren durch DROPS on pl_barnblitz but still won the game. Over the season Feila finanzieren durch DROPS have only won 3 of the matches they entered with the rest as defeats while Highpander© have racked up 5 victories, a draw to Strong Opinions and a GC loss to Tourettes Chessclub earning them a tidy 31 points, 13 ahead of Feila finanzieren durch DROPS.

So when these two sides face off in a BO3 map matchup, will Highpander© take this time to climb back up, closing the gap to have another chance at the Grand Final against the wall of Tourettes Chessclub or will Feila finanzieren durch DROPS show their true colours to reach further into the skies of premiership? Tune in on Sunday 3rd January 2016 at 21 CET / 3PM EST to find out!

Match Overview
Highpander© vs Feila finanzieren durch DROPS
Playoffs Round 1 (Premiership)
Sunday, January 3rd 21:00 CET

pl_upward

2 - 1 (golden cap)

pl_barnblitz_pro6

2 - 0

OVERALL
Highpander© [5:1] Feila finanzieren durch DROPS