128 teams will be whittled down to 1 over the course of ETF2L’s 5th Cup which begins tomorrow. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams will take home some exclusive signed TF2 merchandise and goodies, courtesy of our newest partners, Valve.

The live draw for Round 1 fixtures took place in our IRC channel tonight. The fixtures from the draw are currently being manually input into our system by our admin team and should be done by tomorrow evening.

ETF2L’s previous cups have given us some all-time classic encounters between Europe’s best and most exciting up-and-coming teams, so let’s hope we can bring some of that same magic to this edition of the series. The admin team would like to wish all participants the very best of luck.

Round 1 begins tomorrow and the schedule deadline is this coming Sunday, the 31st. All Round 1 fixtures must be completed by the end of Sunday the 7th of February.

• Map list for each round:
• Round 1: Badlands, Gullywash, Fastlane (decider)
• Round 2: Granary, Obscure, Well (decider)
• Round 3: Gravel Pit, Freight, Badlands (decider)
• Round 4: Turbine, Badlands, Granary (decider)
• Quarter Finals: Granary, Gravel Pit, Freight (decider)
• Semi Finals: Each team picks one map, Gullywash (decider)
• 3rd Place Match: Each team picks one map, Obscure (decider)
• Finals: Each team picks one map, Gravel Pit (decider)
• There can be no draws in Cup games. If a map ends as a draw, you must play a Golden Cap round to decide a winner of that map!
• The ETF2L cfg will be updated imminently. If you do play your Round 1 game before we release it, make sure you enable fixed weapon spread. It’s your responsibility to check this.
• The Force’A’Nature, Sandman, Direct Hit and Buff Banner are limited to 1 per team. All other unlocks are allowed. Teams are free to agree about limiting unlocks further, but such an agreement must be noted on the relevant match page.
• Any agreement between two teams regarding the use of mercs, wild cards or servers must be recorded on the relevant match page. We cannot help you settle any of these disputes unless the issue has been confirmed by both teams on the match page. It is your responsibility to make sure you and your opponent follow this rule.
• If an agreement can not be reached between both teams about what server your game will be played on, contact an admin as soon as possible to arrange the use of an ETF2L server.
• Any merc you use must be registered with ETF2L. Any mercs used without express written permission from the other team on the relevant match page will result in harsh penalties.

Dates in detail:

• Round 1 starts: Monday the 25th of January
• Round 1 schedule deadline: Sunday the 31st of January
• Round 1 match deadline: Sunday the 7th of February
• Round 2 fixtures generated: Monday the 8th of February
• Round 2 starts: Monday the 8th of February
• All fixtures for all rounds will be randomly generated

It’s once again our sad duty to have to inform the ETF2L community that the Anti-Cheat Department has uncovered two more instances of hacking within the League.
As we have said before, we will catch you, so please don’t ruin the game for the many other people that enjoy playing.

Anthony – banned for 1 year, using wallhack

Massi – banned for 1 year due to VAC + Aequitas ban – Admitted to cheating

As many of you are aware, the 5th Cup signups did not open on Sunday. This was unfortunately due to an Admin being away for an emergency and the other Admins not being aware that they needed to do something to actually get the signups open.

The 5th Cup signups will now open on Wednesday 20th January 2010 at 19:00CET. Signups limited to 128 teams.

To sign your team up for the cup tomorrow, simply click here and signup! We expect places to fill fast, so make sure one of your team’s leaders is around to sign you up!

The signups will close on Sunday 24th January or when we have reached 128 teams – whichever is the sooner. The 5th cup starts on Monday 25th January.

KOTH Cup Final – TFPortal summiteer vs Game Control

After nearly 3 months, the KOTH cup draws to a close tonight with the Final match.

Match Overview
TFPortal summiteer vs Game Control
Final
Tuesday, January 19th 19:15 CET

koth_sawmill

4 - 1

koth_lighthouse

0 - 4

koth_waste

1 - 4

OVERALL
TFPortal summiteer [1:2] Game Control

The maps are koth_sawmill, koth_lighthouse and a possible decider on koth_waste. Source TV is available at bcast06.blank-TV.de:50000

Good luck to both teams!

Season 7 Sign-Ups:

Sign-Ups opened for Season 7 on Tuesday evening and so far we have had 386 teams sign up to participate. This is a great start and I know there are still many more teams looking to sign up for the league. If you haven’t yet signed up, or if perhaps you have forgotten to sign up (hello Black Bob!), you can do so here. Simply visit the link and then click on the “Sign Up” button next to Season 7. Please bear in mind that you will need 6 active players in your roster, all with correctly entered STEAM IDs.

Division Formats & Placements:

We are looking at including 330 teams for Season 7, the same number of teams that featured in Season 6. The Divisions will be set out as follows:

• Division 1 – 10 teams
• Division 2 – 20 teams (2A-B)
• Division 3 – 40 teams (3A-D)
• Division 4 – 60 teams (4A-F)
• Division 5 – 100 teams (5A-J)
• Division 6 – 100 teams (6A-J)

With regards to placement in these divisions, we are running a slightly different system to previous seasons. This season, we are giving all teams who finished Season 6 without dropping or folding, priority entry into Season 7. This means that they will be entered into the Division that they finished in last season, depending on whether they were promoted, relegated or if they just stayed in the same division. Once all of the teams that signed up who played last season have been entered into the league, we will then fill up the spaces with new teams. When assessing new teams, we will be looking at the clan’s history, any ladder matches they have played and any other information that has been provided. You can also send us screenshots of previous matches where you have beaten teams in or above the division that you want to apply for.

I am highly encouraging all teams who are either new and are requesting a place in Season 7 OR who finished last season but would like to request to be considered for a different division to please email your request to me in the following format. Please read this very carefully, incorrect applications and submissions will be ignored!

• Send an email to d2m [at] etf2l.org, stating your ETF2L nickname and your team name
• Create a zip file of match screenshots in JPEG format, and upload it to your favourite file sharing site – i.e. Mediafire. Include the link to the files in your email. Please do not email the zip file itself.
• Include a list of the screenshots/scores in the email so that we know what we’re looking at. Preferably including the date, opposition, map and score.

This is all you need to do to support your team’s potential entry into Season 7. Every email received will be posted into our Admin forum for review by the Admin team. Decisions will be made over the next couple of weeks and we intend to have the divisions finalised by the date that sign-ups end – 24th January 2010. Please try not to harrass any of the Admin team about any updates or to ask where your team is going to be placed. We will be busy reviewing the information received and putting the teams into the divisions that we feel are best suited, based on the information received.

Also, please be aware that not every team will get a place in the league straight away, due to the 330 team limit. You should not panic if this happens to your particular team as there are always a number of teams that fold/drop from the league within the first few weeks. We will be replacing dropped clans with teams from the waiting list up until the end of Week 3.

Season 7 Playoffs

There are a number of playoff matches to be played, that will determine where some teams will be playing their TF2 in Season 7. The play-off matches are as follows:

Division 1
Blight Gaming v Team Empire – [Match Page]

7 brothers who aren’t brothers v we have no name cos we don’t give a fuck (teddybears) – [Match Page]

Division 2
Paroxysm v Exhilium – [Match Page]

Northwave v Nobody’s fault but mine – [Match Page]

Division 3
The MIPC Organization v insAne Team

Division 4
CZech tactiX TF2A v Entropy Team

The winners of each match will go into the division listed, the loser will drop into the division below.

The match pages for these playoff matches will be created later on today and edited into this news post, so please check back later for those. The playoff matches are to be played no later than Sunday 31st January 2010. Matches will be for 2 maps, with a decider map used if required. Map picking will be done via ‘Map Elimination’ on the 9 league maps for Season 7. All other details will be posted onto the match pages.

Best of luck to all teams who are involved in the playoffs!

Season 7 sign ups open on Tuesday the 12th

We’re pleased to announce that ETF2L Season 7 will begin for 330 teams on Monday the 8th of February.

Here’s some of the rule changes we’re thinking about implementing (if you have any well reasoned suggestions, please let us know):

• Teams who participated in and completed Season 6 will have sign up priority over teams who didn’t take part in or failed to complete Season 6.
• The league will again be supported by our generous sponsors SteelSeries. Details on prizes to follow.
• Fixed maps for all divisions:
  • Week 1: Granary and Gorge
    Week 2: Badlands and Well
    Week 3: Gravel Pit and Obscure
    Week 4: Gullywash and Turbine
    Week 5: Obscure and Freight
    Week 6: Gorge and Turbine
    Week 7: Freight and Well
    Week 8: Granary and Gullywash
    Week 9: Badlands and Gravel Pit
• The ETF2L cfg will be updated for the start of the season and will feature fixed weapon spread and tf_teamtalk 1.
• The Force’A’Nature, Sandman, Direct Hit and Buff Banner are limited to 1 per team. All other unlocks are allowed. Teams are free to agree about limiting unlocks further, but such an agreement must be noted on the relevant match page.
• Important note regarding unlocks: We’re expecting Valve to make some tweaks to the new weapons soon, and are in contact with them regarding the issue. If you have any suggestions, please make them in a succinct and reasonable manner and we will pass the best articulated suggestions on to Valve.
• Each team will be granted 2 wild cards per season that can be used any time up to 15 minutes before a game is due to start.
• Default wins will be enforced for teams that fail to use their wild card in time. The league will only run smoothly if teams adhere to the scheduling rules and no exceptions will be made. If your team has to miss a weekend due to a LAN event, play the game as soon as possible or wild card it. If a team member fails to appear for a game and you have no wild cards left, the other team may wild card on your behalf or you must find a substitute/agreed merc. It is your responsibility to make sure your games are played on schedule.
• Any agreement between two teams regarding the use of mercs, wild cards or servers must be recorded on the relevant match page. We cannot help you settle any of these disputes unless the issue has been confirmed by both teams on the match page. It is your responsibility to make sure you and your opponent follow this rule.
• If an agreement can not be reached between both teams about what server your game will be played on, contact an admin as soon as possible to arrange the use of an ETF2L server.
• The rules about the use of mercs will be updated. Any merc you use must be registered with ETF2L. Any mercs used without express written permission from the other team on the relevant match page will result in harsh penalties.
• We are implementing a hijack rule that will prevent teams from replacing/changing the majority of its roster after the season has started.
• It’s our hope that any games featuring any cheaters will be replayed (assuming that a replay would be of a potential points benefit to the other team) to minimise the disruptive and unfair impact cheaters have on our divisions. The detailed mechanics of this rule will be worked out for the start of the season. Obviously, if we find any evidence that a team was harbouring someone they knew to be cheating, no replays will happen and that team will be expelled from the league.

Dates in detail:

• Sign Ups Open: Tuesday the 12th of January
• Sign Ups Close: Sunday the 24th of January
• Divisions Announced: Sunday the 31st of January
• Week 1 starts: Monday the 8th of February

Sign Ups for the 5th Cup open on Sunday the 17th

Our long-awaited 5th Cup will begin on Monday the 25th of January, hosting 128 teams. The competition is sponsored by ETF2L’s newest partner, Valve, who will be supplying signed TF2 merchandise as prizes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams.

• Sign Ups Open: Sunday the 17th of January
• Sign Ups Close: Sunday the 24th of January
• All fixtures for all of the rounds will be randomly generated
• Round 1 starts: Monday the 25th of January

Player of the season poll

We have one last piece of business to settle regarding Season 6: who was the best player of the season? Cast your vote below.

 Loading ...