UPDATE: Brackets are up here

Following on from the poll, the latest edition of the ultiduo cup will be on Monday 15th August. Signups will close at 16 CEST, when check-in will begin. Check-in finishes at 19 CEST, after which brackets will be made and drawn live in #etf2l at approximately 19:30 CEST. Matches are then played between 20 and 22:40 CEST.

Also, following on from the latest TF2 updates we have decided to allow the original. Considering how little difference it is likely to make, we’d like to at least give those who have it a chance to use it.

A second note is that signups have dipped a little. While at the moment they are at 87 and could rise, it is very possible that after check-in there will be around 64 teams. If there is less than 64 then, of course, there will be 1 less round played on Monday. If there is any more, there will be a first round match for a few teams while a lot of teams will already be in round 2. If this happens, we encourage teams to play their round 2 games as early as possible.

Servers will still be available to use, but if you can get a server for yourselves rather than use an ETF2L one it would be much easier.

All other information is in the previous post here.

Ultiduo Cup #2  reschedule

Having been made aware that a few teams would be unable to play on Sunday the 14th, and also because some people would prefer spectating the Bigfoot TF2 Challenge II Invite and play the 2nd ETF2L Ultiduo Cup at a later date, we are offering the opportunity to play on a few different dates. Tick all days that you are able to play. If you are not going to play the cup, please do not vote, as it makes it harder for us to estimate numbers and how many sign-ups we would really get. If you want to play and can play all 3 days, you are able to tick all 3 boxes.

The poll will end on Thursday at 00:00 CEST. Shortly afterwards, we will announce the date (probably the winning option unless there is a good reason to make an exception), with a few cup updates.

Staff Updates

Progress towards getting the ETF2L awards ready has been a little slow. But we’ve received the nominations from our panel and made some improvements to the polls. So we can assure you that they are to be ready soon!

Spike Himself has chosen to resign from the admin team due to inactivity. We appreciate all the work you have done for us and wish you the best in the future.

As announced earlier in the forums, we are looking to restructure the AC section with some updated and requested guidelines and procedures. This means we say our thanks to  konr,  Gubbins and basH. Much of their work as anti-cheat admins was invaluable, for which we are eternally grateful.

All the above means we are looking for people willing to put their time and effort into ETF2L, and strengthen the staff of volunteers. We will work through some earlier applications first, realising there are some great applications still unanswered. But if you’d like to help out, don’t hesitate to send an email to staff@etf2l.org, telling us a little about yourself and any relevant experience, as well as why you want to be an admin. News writers and site coders (PHP) are especially welcome.

We realise we aren’t always quick with handling applications, but we will be trying to reply to every application in some way from now on.

Cup Updates

Albert is on vacation for a month or so. This does, however, not mean that his weekly #tf2cups are suspended! #tfcup #6 will be run by his fellow Dutchman Martn on Tuesday, 9th August, starting at 20.00 CEST.
To sign up, leave a comment here or contact Martn on IRC. You can find him in #tf2cup on QuakeNet. For both options you need a representative on IRC.

Insomia 43

Tapley asked us to post the following summary of the Insomia 43 LAN in August. Remember to buy him (and your favourite ETF2L admins) a beer @ LAN!

Hello Friends.

With 3 weeks left till LAN I thought I’d get a big post put up to alert you to the fact that the Lan in the UK I43 looks set to be the biggest TF2 lan in the world. Ever. With roughly over 250 TF2 players having bought tickets and the number slowly rising its looking to be an epic tournament!

We’re trying to get as many to buy tickets as possible so I’ve started a new thread for people who just want to chillax and be sure of a team for lan and dont care who you play with! I’ll organise you into mix teams, all you have to do is add the others to your friends list and decide a team name :] – please only add up to this if you’ve bought a ticket.

For anyone who doesn’t know LAN is not just sitting at your pc playing TF2 in a massive hall – In fact theres plently of other games to play at lan – also a massive exhibition hall with free stuff to grab – playing the latest releases on consoles and pc. Then theres meeting your bestest E-Friends and hanging out with the rest of the solid TF2 community! Having a drink at the bar or in the camping area (yes, you can drink outside area in the outdoor area now!)

Please see and post in the thread list below if you need any info/help.

Organised Mix/Mercs Thread – Find Players/Teams
Automatic Mix Team Thread – Dont really care who you play with? Get added here!

Questions Thread – General I43 Questions
Accomodation Thread – Tent/University Rooms/Hotel
Seating Thread – Seating Requests Questions?
TUP – Pc Rental Info (Euros Given Preference)
Transport Thread – Need A Lift/Can give a lift?
Equipment Share Thread – Need a Monitor/Got A Spare Monitor?

I Love You ♥

Tapley

Summer Assembly

The Insomia series is not the only LAN that hosts its traditional TF2 tournament! This year’s Summer Assembly LAN will take place from the 4th to the 7th August. Do not miss the  VanillaTV coverage!

Year after year Team Fortress 2 has risen among players and guest to be one of the favourite games in Assembly. High-speed matches and colourful personas in the community have ensured countless memorable moments. This year the grand prize will be a whopping 3650 euros.
Each year ASSEMBLY Summer has been the gathering point for Europe’s finest players in Team Fortress 2. This year ain’t gonna disappoint us, because intrest towards this tournament has been huge. Team Fortress 2 will again deliver us nice matches and hot spiked balls.

Tournament rules & more information

Tournament type: NON BYOC: Groups + Single elimination
Team limit: 8 teams of 6 players each
Prizes:
1. 2100 €
2. 1050 €
3. 500 €

After the easy victory for virile unhumen in the last cup (final’s VOD was unfortunately removed, quarter-final is here), the challenge is to beat the now 4-time champions for yet another cash prize. The next cup will be on Sunday 14^th August, with the finals on Sunday 21^st August – nicely between Summer Assembly & i43. The times are similar to the last cup, with 4 rounds to be played on the 14^th, the last three on 21^st.

The format will be broadly similar: single-elimination & best-of-three. There will, however, be seedings based on the last cup and previous ESH cups. There is also extra time allocated for check-in so there is not a manic rush in IRC like there was last time (even if it just about worked!), as well as more time to let the bot do a live draw on #etf2l again.

The check-in will also be more transparent and easy to see if your team has been registered as checked in. We’ll be making a google spreadsheet (which only admins can edit) which will list teams and a column next to it saying if the team has checked in. We do urge, however, for teams to be patient with this and also to spread out over the check-in period – we don’t want all teams checking in at the start!

A couple of final notes:

• The Disciplinary Action will continue to be allowed but not mandatory.
• Any team who misses five (e.g. missing screenshots for up to 2 matches) or more screenshots will be disqualified. You can automatically take scores screenshots at the end of the match in multiplayer advanced options in TF2. Status screenshots do, however, have to be done manually before the match starts when all 4 players are on the server (type ‘status’ and ‘jpeg’ in console). Results can be submitted here. For default wins, take screenshots of yourselves on empty servers, with status.
• No mercs allowed. Two players which start to play 1^st match must play to the end. If one of your players cannot play, add the other player to your squad (and then use the same 2 players each match).
• Places are first-come, first-served. If there is a few more than 128 teams who check-in, priority is given to the first 128 and those higher up on the waiting list.

A quick schedule:

• Signups close: Sunday 14^th August, 16:00 CEST
• Check-in: Sunday 14^th August, 16 – 19 CEST
• Bracket draw: 19:40 CEST – 20:00 CEST
• Round 1: 20:00 – 20:40
• Round 2: 20:40 – 21:20
• Round 3: 21:20 – 22:00
• Round 4: 22:00 – 22:40

A quick recap of the key points for the cup:

• Setup – Cup of 128, single elimination, best-of-three
• Prizes – $ 200 first place, $ 100 second place
• Unlocks – Medic: Blutsauger & Ubersaw allowed. Soldier: all unlocks banned, except the Disciplinary Action (and skins such as the Frying Pan and Original).
• Map – koth_ultiduo_r_b7 (download here)
• Sign-ups open – Now
• Server config – Here

And don’t forget about the server for training (London, UK): connect 94.76.215.26; password mission (now with Replays – just press “F6” for save your amazing killstreaks).

Excello Bigfoot TF2 Challenge II

 SonnyBlack left us with the following piece of information on the Excello Bigfoot TF2 Challenge II.

With the start of the Bigfoot TF2 Challenge II coming closer and closer, we decided to include 2 more teams to be added to the list of teams for the Invite Cup, those being  Team Refuse and  Mister. In addition to that we have made little changes to the golden cap rule, as well as introducing a deadline for invite teams.

With the Open Bracket starting on the 8th of August and the Invite Cup starting on the 14th of August we felt we should remind teams that have not signed up yet that there are still 9 spots to be taken in the Open Bracket as well as 4 spots in the Invite Cup.

As already stated in an earlier post teams that participated in the first cup will be treated preferentially. With  Epsilon e-sports, SG-1 and  SNSD already signed up and the addition of our newest invite teams we are left with:

•  dignitas.rndm
•  Infused.Tt
  
•  Monster Munch
• Anexis eSports e.V.
• FAMESTARS

Those teams will have time until th 7th of August to sign up. After this deadline it is pretty much first-come, first-served for those teams:

•  Team Refuse
•  K1ck eSports
•  Team Thermaltake
•  TCM Gaming
•  Mister

 Team Refuse will have the edge of having played in the previous Bigfoot TF2 Challenge I.

Concerning the golden cap rule we decided that during the bo1 stage the Golden Cap time will be 5 minutes and during the bo3 stage it will be 10 minutes, no big deal.

All information about the Open Bracket as well as the Invite Cup, with rules and all teams signed up so far, can be found here:

Open Bracket

Invite Cup

The original newspost can be seen here.

Albert’s #tf2cup #5

Albert’s weekly cups have become quite a success. Congratulation to the winners of cup #4, Defiant Gaming! The next cup is happening on Monday, 1st August. Unfortunately, the cup is already full but watch out for casts and provided STV IPs at #tf2cup on quakenet.

For more information see here.