Firstly, a reminder to all teams that are top 2 in their groups. The playoff tree will be generated as soon as tonight’s match results are submitted. Please start talking to your opponent’s leaders already and schedule the match tonight, if possible, and let an admin know as soon as possible (i.e. until tomorrow) if you have any problems reaching your opponent or scheduling your match. The playoffs will contain the following match ups in the round of 16.

•  Sweden vs.  Russia
•  Israel vs.  Austria,  Denmark or  Scotland
•  Portugal vs.  Belgium
•  Finland vs.  Latvia
•  Lithuania,  Croatia,  United States of America or  Norway vs.  Spain
•  England vs.  Lithuania,  Croatia,  United States of America or  Norway
•  France vs.  Netherlands
•  Germany vs.  Poland

Scotland is still sitting on zero points, having lost against Sweden and Austria. Denmark took both maps off of Austria and still has a good chance to enter the playoffs. All they need is one more point. Scotland has to win both maps with a high difference in captures to overtake Austria. Will the motherland of the demomen pull of this little wonder? On the Scottish side we have a new found star in Sheepy, will he be able to deal with the famous quad? It’s not only him though, Danish team is full of SdX RED members like their pipe deliverer  Dr.Phil.

Group E is lagging a bit behind due to the i46 exhibition matches featuring many players from Team USA. Norway only played one game out of 3 so far. Tonight’s the night to win the spot in the playoff stage by gaining points from two matches. Anything can happen, Norway is sitting on 5 points at the last spot of the group. The currently first placed team from Lithuania has only 7 points though. With a win in this match Norway will (temporarily) take the lead. Having a team consisting of players like Dr. Leon and torden, a win against Croatia should is compulsory.

VanillaTV will stream this match, starting at 20:00 CEST.

As mentioned before, Norway is going to play 4 maps in one night to secure the promotion to the playoffs. The Americans had to give away 6 points to Croatia for a default loss but took both maps off of Lithunia. With a win in this match they will win the group and play Spain in the Round of 16 in the playoffs. TLR, enigma and clckwr are only few names from this team and they all are the top-tier players in their country – if not the world. Do not count out Norway yet though, they have many players from the legendary  broder in their lineup and the Season 10! premiership rookie, crouton. This is gonna be a great game, a game between two teams who are able to get the lead in this Group.

VanillaTV will stream this match, starting at around 21:15 CEST.

New feedback forum: The Idea Box

If you ever read an unlocks thread in our forum you will probably agree: trying to have a civilized discussion is a masochistic experience, with the cramped layout and ugly font doing little to help. To solve this issue, we have created a new forum, a “safe heaven” for players to provide league feedback and brainstorm ideas together with the admin staff.

[The Idea Box] is set up on phpBB, which provides us with vastly increased customization, improved comfort options and moderator tools, and even an option for users to report bad posts. Everyone is welcome to sign up and make their voice heard, so long as they are capable and willing to engage in civilized dialogue. Off-topic posts, flames and trolling will be cleaned up mercilessly to ensure an pleasant environment for all, and repeat offenders will be banished permanently.

All signups have to be approved by either Crasp or CanFo, so please sign up with your ETF2L nickname (smurf accounts will not be approved). The full set of global forum rules can be found [here].

We’ve went ahead and set up discussion threads for every single unlock, as well as map and general feedback forums. In the future we may appoint forum moderators from the community to safeguard civil discourse. Applications can be sent to staff@etf2l.org.

All of this sound interesting? Head onto the [new forums]!

Perpetual Recruitment

We figured out that we, the admins, have been constantly complaining about lacking manpower for major changes, but never made clear that we are always looking for help (hey, only took us like four years!). We’ve (finally) set up a staff recruitment page, conveniently named [Join us!], which lists all vacancies and requirements for potential admins. If you have an idea for a project or task that is not listed you can apply anyway. All applications should be sent to staff@etf2l.org. We will try to answer all application letters within three weeks (we really will try!).

How much potential and skill this scene has was easy to see. We simply asked four people who offered their help several times on the forums if they would like to join the staff and they agreed. Welcome to our new potential (German speaking) coders wrock, dave and  nTraum!

Forum Contest: Who requested an admin the most times?

There is a new [forum contest]. This time you have to guess the 10 users who requested an admin using the !admin command on IRC the most times total in ETF2L’s history. The contest finishes on August 10 and the winner can pick a game out of the following list:

• Portal
• Audiosurf
• Cogs
• Killing Floor
• Metro 2033
• Risk: Factions
• Section 8: Prejudice
• Torchlight
• Toki Tori
• AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
• Super Meat Boy

Finland look like a safe bet for the Playoff Stages, having already beaten Belgium and Luxembourg. They are playing Bulgaria in the last game of the group. Finland need 2 points to guarantee qualification and need 5 points to win their group. Bulgaria meanwhile have to win both maps to secure a place in the next round, which seems unlikely against a strong Finnish team. Anyway, let us see if they cause an upset!

• STV: tba

Somehow harbleu and the Americans haven’t managed to play a single game in the Cup yet, even though we are in week 3 already. His team have no points yet and one default loss on their account. Lithuania may need to get all points possible to have an easy way out of the group stage. What will be presented by our east-sided players like huhy and evokje?

• STV: tba

France have secured a place in the Playoff Stages but Ukraine can steal the first place in the group by taking both maps off the French. They have aces like Jorman and  estate up their sleeve and nobody can predict what will happen if the Ukrainians will take it serious and make the game harder for French players than they expected. Ukraine have to win at least one map to have their playoff stage spot available because as for now they are 2 points behind Poland.

• STV: tba

NA Rules Brackets are live!

The brackets for the cup that is run under the ESEA ruleset are now live. We had a total number of 49 teams signing up and decided to divide them into brackets of 8 instead of 16 this time.

For the rules of the tournament and the brackets please visit the NA Rules Cup page.

Here is the schedule, please start scheduling and playing the round 1 matches now!

The cup will be single elimination with 7 days per match and will follow this schedule:

• Round of 8: August 1-7, map cp_badlands
• Semi-finals: August 8-14, map cp_granary
• Finals: August 15-21, map cp_snakewater

6v6 Nations Cup: Russia vs. Ireland

This is going to be an exciting match, because the winner of this game is guaranteed to play in the playoff stages. Both teams have exact same amount of points and there is no doubt that both teams will want to to win this game. Will the ‘luck of the irish’ be with them today? How will gdk do in his first official in the Cup? Will Predz shine again as he did back in Epsilon eSports?  There is only one way to find out. The game will be casted by VanillaTV with  Skully and Pledge on the mics and Comedian on camera.

• STV: tba

Lineup Team  Ireland

• Scout: PYYYOUR
• Scout: Predz
• Soldier: Admirable
• Soldier: Funkadelic
• Demoman: troot
• Medic: Paul

Lineup Team   Russia

• Scout: reko
• Scout: redzzz
• Soldier: Forsak3n
• Soldier: Ordinator
• Demoman: gdk
• Medic: whiteglow

6v6 Nations Cup: Netherlands vs. Czech Republic

Another game of Group H! Whichever team comes away with more points will progress to the Playoff Stages and the other one will be eliminated. It’s all up to  Rok0s and his eastern tactics used against Exfane and his Dutch comrades.

• STV: tba

American Rules Cup

The American Rules Cup signups have exceeded expectations, and in order to accommodate all participants and improve cup flow, we’ve decided to make several changes to the cup structure. The cup will now feature skill brackets of 8 teams each, and will have 7 days per match instead of 5, with cp_snakewater as the final map. The new cup schedule is as follows:

• Round of 8: August 1-7, map cp_badlands
• Semi-finals: August 8-14, map cp_granary
• Finals: August 15-21, map cp_snakewater

In addition to allowing the cup to accommodate up to 40 teams, the new schedule should reduce overlap with the ongoing Nations Cups and give participants more breathing room. Signups close Tonight 22 CEST, so don’t miss your chance to try something new!

Edit: If signups reach at least 46 teams, we will have 6 brackets of 8 instead of a waiting list.

With that out of the way, let’s move on to tonight’s games.

6v6 Nations Cup: England vs. Spain

While both teams may have already secured playoffs, this match will determine the winner of the group, who will have an easier route in the playoff stages. Neither team has been tested properly so far, but this should be a close match, with high level players on both sides.

• STV: tba

6v6 Nations Cup: Hungary vs. Canada

Neither Hungary or Canada have won any points from the competition so far, playing England and Spain. Canada did show that they are capable of performing, by testing Spain out on cp_granary with a narrow loss. Hungary also tested Spain on cp_gullywash_final1, so this could be a close game! This will be their last chance to get any points from their campaign.

• STV: nervousenergy.co.uk:27031

6v6 Nations Cup: Latvia vs. Wales

A very important game for both teams, the winner of this will be going through into the playoff stage (as runners-up mostly likely), and the loser will be eliminated! Latvia have a strong team mainly consisting of division 1 team CIDO, whereas Wales have soldier duo  Mike and  Santa as the core of the team.

• STV: tba

HL Nations Cup: France vs. Ukraine

The second game from the Quarter Final stages of the HL Nations Cup is between France and Ukraine, two teams that have beaten strong opposition to reach this stage. France beat Spain in Round 1 of the Playoff Stages, which confirms them as a strong contender to win the tournament. Meanwhile Ukraine also showed us they can compete, defeating England on their way to win their group. The winner of this match will face Finland in the semi-final.

• STV: fakkelbrigade.eu:27101

HL Nations Cup: Netherlands vs. Sweden

Netherlands have probably been the surprise team of the tournament so far, having drawn with Spain in the group, and beat Lithuania in Round 1. If they can beat this Sweden team full of SNSD and May Contain Nuts players, it would surely be the biggest upset so far!

• STV: 176.9.138.143:27100