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Highlander Nations Cup #3

It is that time of the year again – time for the best players of each country to band together and prove their country is the best at Highlander!

The Cup will feature a Group Stage and a single-elimination Tournament, and will take place throughout July and August, with the finals to be played either side of i52. Each country will be represented by one team consisting out of players of the same nationality, led by a Captain chosen through the applications process.

Team Captain Applications

Captain Applications are now open.

National teams are created and managed by Captains chosen out of submitted applications. Each Captain will pick the best possible roster from amongst their countrymen and lead their glorious squadron to victory. There are no restrictions on which players you can field in your team, so long as they are of your country’s nationality and are eligible to play in ETF2L.

To apply, send an email to staff@etf2l.org, explaining why you should be your country’s captain and describe your planned national roster. Applicants who have experience leading successful ETF2L teams and a good reputation in the scene will be given priority. This should be self explanatory  but you should include at least your nickname and your ETF2L profile link in the application letter.

Captain Applications will close on Friday, 20th of June at 23:59 CEST. Only approved Captains and their National Teams will be added to the competition.

Unlocks, Schedule & Maps

The Highlander Nations Cup will use the same unlock rules as ETF2L Highlander Season 6.

The provisional schedule and map pool are as follows:

Schedule

Please bear in mind that this schedule is based on the prediction that we will have a similar number of teams sign up as last year. If the number of teams is different, the schedule may change however the dates will roughly remain similar throughout.

• Announce & Captain Applications: June 10
• Captains Announced: June 22
• Schedule week: June 29 – July 6
• Groups Round 1: July 7 – July 11
• Groups Round 2: July 12 – July 16
• Groups Round 3: July 17 – July 21
• Groups Round 4: July 22 – July 26
• Groups Round 5: July 7 – July 11
• Tiebreaker Round: July 27 – July 31
• Round of 16: August 1 – August 5
• Quarter Final: August 6 – August 10
• Semi-Final: August 11 – August 15
• Grand Final: August 16 – September 7

Map Pool

The map pool will contain the following maps: pl_badwater, cp_steel, pl_upward, koth_pro_viaduct_rc4, cp_gravelpit, cp_process_final and cp_intermodal*

During the Group Stages, each map will be played as a bo1. During the knockout stages each map will be played as a bo3.

• Groups Week 1: pl_badwater + cp_steel
• Groups Week 2: pl_upward + cp_intermodal
• Groups Week 3: koth_pro_viaduct_rc4 + cp_gravelpit
• Tiebreaker Week: Best of 3 picked from the map pool.
• Round of 16: pl_badwater + koth_pro_viaduct_rc4 (cp_intermodal if needed)
• Quarter Final: pl_upward + cp_process_final (cp_steel if needed)
• Semi-Final: Best of 3 picked from the map pool.
• Grand Final: Best of 3 picked from the map pool.

*cp_intermodal will be played on the latest version, this will be announced once known. Until then, here is the most up to date version.

Prizes

Prizes TBA.

Tonight you can sit back and grab your snacks with toogyboogy, ? and Ducky on camera as they bring you two longest named teams in TF2 history, Epsilon eSports and  Fenneks eSports by SimRai.com [season 18 in the first Premiership Week 5 cast! Rather unsurprisingly  Epsilon eSports have been successfully winning all their matches so far except for a small slip up when Politically correct pander came in and took a point away from them, seems no-one told them they couldn’t! However tonight’s match could also be rather deciding for  Fenneks eSports by SimRai.com [season 18 considering last week’s crushing defeat from Awsomniac and the risk that rockit could ‘rocket’ up into the playoff boundaries after their match tonight against Politically correct pander knocking them out into 5th. Who will win? Tune in from 21.15 CEST to find out!

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Premiership wrapup

Another season of Highlander comes to a closee. After an intense bout of playoffs, Highpander© emerged victorious, taking home 500€ and 9x Tt eSPORTS BLACK Gaming Mouse.

Despite finishing first in the main season, itsallgood fell short in the grand finals, successively losing both of the maps. Both they and  Highpander© have had an impressive season, however itsallgood fell victim to the same curse that Highpander© did last season – finishing 1st in the regular season and losing the final. Perhaps this will be a valuable lesson to all teams participating next season!

Despite having many roster problems over the course of the season, and changing their lineup considerably, Tourettes Chessclub managed to impressively place 3rd in their debut in the Premiership Division. They beat reigning champions Kill Switch in the initial playoff to knock them down to 4th. Kill Switch looked surprisingly shaky throughout – despite an initial 4-2 victory over eventual champions Highpander©. Hopefully we’ll see them return with the same form we saw during Highlander Season 5.

Another debutant in the Premiership Division, Stacked placed 5th, largely thanks to their combo powerhouse made mostly from 6v6 premiership saviours rockit.

Jamais Vu and Fair Enough both failed to acquire enough points to enter the playoffs, finishing sixth and seventh respectively, with the latter keeping their place in the Premiership Division with a playoff win against Division 1 runners-up PremTech.

Veteran Americans The Electric Temptations had a disappointing season, showing just how tough it is to play at the highest level. Hopefully we’ll see them return another time when they can commit more thoroughly.

The Premiership winners are (in order of class):

• Kissakala – Scout
• zoob – Soldier
• Steve! – Pyro
• Hildreth – Demoman
• Piddox – Heavy
• nijoonen – Engineer
• Fool – Medic
• phromelo – Sniper
• Solid – Spy

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Experimental Cup #5 – High Bracket Grand Final

Tonight is your chance to watch the finalists of the Highlander Experimental Cup #5, SERIOUS BUSINESS and  Team Nein! battle it out to be crowned the victor over these brand new map instalments of koth_fuel_a4, cp_intermodal_rc3a and pl_rust_b7! This great match will be casted by Dandere and jakeowaty with Jon on the camera for BlackOut TV. Tune in from 21.00 CEST for all the action!

Match Overview
SERIOUS BUSINESS vs Team Nein!
Final
Wednesday, June 11th 21:00 CEST

pl_rust_b7

0 - 2

cp_intermodal_rc3a

0 - 3

OVERALL
SERIOUS BUSINESS [0:6] Team Nein!

Tonight, at 20.00 CEST, tune into BlackOut TV as they host the Highlander Awards Show which reveals which of the questionable nominations has been honoured with player of the season, alongside your standard gossip that these shows is never quite without. It will be hosted by Ryushi, Getawhale and Jon, with Hildreth, Bulow,  Scissors and Deox as guests this evening.