Highlander Nations Cup #2

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 before i49. 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. There will be a prize pool of €1000 contributed by an anonymous benefactor.

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 explaining but you should include at least your nickname and your ETF2L profile link in the application letter.

Captain Applications will close on Friday, 28th 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 4.

The provisional schedule and map pool are as follows:

Schedule

• Schedule week: July 1 – July 7
• Groups Week 1: July 8 – July 12
• Groups Week 2: July 13 – July 17
• Groups Week 3: July 18 – July 22
• Tiebreaker Week: July 23 – July 27
• Round of 16: July 28 – August 1
• Quarter Final: August 2 – August 6
• Semi-Final: August 7 – August 11
• Grand Final: August 12 – August 16

Map Pool

• Groups Week 1: pl_badwater + cp_steel
• Groups Week 2: pl_upward + cp_gullywash
• Groups Week 3: koth_pro_viaduct_rc3 + cp_gravelpit
• Tiebreaker Week: Best of 3 picked from the map pool.
• Round of 16: pl_barnblitz_pro + koth_lakeside
• Quarter Final: pl_badwater + cp_gullywash
• Semi-Final: Best of 3 picked from the map pool.
• Grand Final: Best of 3 picked from the map pool.

The unlocks, schedule and map pool are not yet final and may be subject to change. You can provide feedback in the following feedback thread.

90° FoV vs SOLAR

Tonight brings a fight from the bottom of the table between The frenchy survived and SOLAR (previously known as SOLAR). Both teams will be bringing their A-game tonight, as the points tonight could be what stands between them and relegation at the end of the season.

Watch live video from VanillaTV on www.twitch.tv Read the rest of this entry »

BlackOut TV you say? Who are they? What do they do? They are a casting organisation set up by BlackOut Gaming to improve the casting coverage of European TF2 with Highlander and 6v6.

The pair behind the org are Jon and Russian Guyovich. If you want to get your match casted, want to try out casting or can offer your internet connection for streaming services, these are the guys to talk to. Jon manages the technical side, namely the streaming and stream preparations, whilst Russian picks out the matches, organises the casters and puts out (spams) information about the upcoming coverage. Here’s what they both have to say:

Russian Guyovich: We welcome newcomers to the commentating and streaming side of competitive TF2 by providing them with insight and advice into how they can build up their own confidence and casting abilities.

Jon: We are a very prolific channel, with around 4 to 5 TF2 matches casted on a weekly basis. These matches range from ETF2L, UGC and Wireplay in order to fill two major gaps with TF2 coverage in Europe – lack of Highlander season coverage for all three of the established European leagues mentioned above, and not enough attention given to TF2 players and teams which play at a mid and/or low skill level.

In addition, they have a massive amount of casters who generously donate their time to enjoy commentating for the competitive TF2 scene – SuddenlyStarMia, Jakeowaty, HiGPS, Ryushi, Sal, Hildreth, Haydn, Admirable and TJB, to name a few. All of their work is non-profit and performed by volunteers – motivated by their passion for not only the competitive side of TF2, but also to inspire others to get involved and provide them with an opportunity to gain some experience in casting or streaming where other casting organisations have higher standards and seek previous experience. The reasoning behind their approach is simple – they strive to further build the entire TF2 community as a whole and to improve the competitive casting scene.

Make sure to tune in next time they go live and check out BlackOut TV on the following channels:

• Twitch
• Web
• Forum
• YouTube (VoDs)

Season 15 Roster- and Wildcard Lock

As in previous seasons, the rosters of all teams signed up for Season 15 powered by BlackOut Gaming will be locked with the start of week 7. The last day to add new players to your roster is tomorrow, Saturday, June 15.

No exceptions will be made and the roster lock will be lifted when all Season 15 matches, including playoffs and tie breakers, are played. Please take this information into consideration and add backup players to your roster, if necessary.

Additionally, wildcards will be locked on Friday, June 21 at 00.00 CEST. On the same day, all matches without a schedule will receive a new default date for the catch up week (June 23 – June 29). Any matches without result on Monday, July 1, at 00.00 CEST, will be made void. Premiership playoffs and tie breakers start on Monday, July 1, as well.

ESA £1,250 Launch Tournament

The Electronic Sports Association (ESA) launched their service last week. The new tournament organiser will offer prized tournaments for all skill ranges for 4 games, one being Team Fortress 2.

The opening tournament is free for everyone and features a prize pool of £1,250. Additionally, the winner gets 6 Ozone headsets. The whole thing goes down on June 23rd at 12:15 CEST (with a 1 hour check-in period prior to avoid noshows) and will last until the evening for the teams that make it further in the tournament tree. Different from the ESA tournaments that are going to follow, players do not need an ESA Premium account to collect their winnings in this launch tournament. The prize money is distributed among the top 16 teams and even if you think your team does not end up in prize range anyway, it is still worth playing, because ESA will start offering ranked tournaments on a regular basis that seed you against teams of similar skill. The opening tournament results will form the basis for the ranking of your team.

ESA is using the so called “North American” setup, meaning all maps are played in 2 halves.

The signups are open now (make sure all your players have a valid Steam ID entered on their profile) and more information can be found on the ESA homepage.

Banner by accless

Overview and Reminders

After a night of battle, a huge congratulations to the 4 qualifiers from Tuesday’s bracket. These players battled through the 128 player bracket to claim their spots in the Monthly Finals:

• MightyMe
• Lalli
• sickless
• Qlassic

Don’t fret if you didn’t make it! There is still another chance for you to qualify for this months Monthly Finals in the 2nd Qualifying Bracket! Anyone who played in the first bracket is welcome to sign up again, as long as they are not 1 of the 4 qualifiers! The 2nd Qualifier will take place on Wednesday 19th.

Signups are now open and will close at 22:30 CET the night before the bracket is due to start!:

Signup Now!

All other rules and details can be found on the hub page!