Round 3 of the 5th cup

The live draw for Round 3 fixtures took place earlier tonight in our IRC channel. The fixtures will be input into the bracket as soon as possible, hopefully by tomorrow night. The 32 teams remaining have 2 weeks to play their matches. Good luck to all the teams involved – you’re almost half way to the final!

Dates and details
• Maps are Gravel Pit, Freight and Badlands (decider)
• Schedule deadline: Sunday the 28th of February
• Match deadline: Sunday the 7th of March
• Round 4 draw: late on Sunday the 7th of March

Week 2 of Season 7

Season 7 enters its second week with a couple of challenging maps, Turbine and Well, to test your team’s tactical and technical ability. Will Well continue to throw up surprises like we saw in Week 1 with Team Empire drawing with TCM-Gaming and The Last Resort coming back to dominate Well after losing Badlands to FakkelBrigade, just like infernal Gamers did to Mister?

Dates and details
• Maps are Turbine and Well
• Schedule deadline: Sunday the 21th of February
• Match deadline: Sunday the 28th of February

Using wildcards

We’d also like to ask teams to be considerate of their opponents regarding the use of wildcards. Even though you can take a wildcard any time up to 15 minutes before your match is due to start, that doesn’t mean you should leave your opponents in the dark about whether you’re going to use it or not. Please be considerate and let them know what’s happening in good time.

If, for example, you think that you’re going to have to use a wildcard but aren’t 100% sure, it’s best practise to just use the wildcard rather than wait until the last possible moment to decide. Remember that you have two wildcards for the season. If it happens that you actually can field a team, try and arrange the game for that night, then inform an admin that the game was played and we will give you the wildcard back for future use.

Also please keep in mind that while a wildcard grants you a generous 2 weeks to reschedule, you should make the effort to arrange the match for as soon as possible rather than leave it until the last possible day, risk clashes with other competitions or running into unforeseen circumstances, and incur default losses.

Player ban

It’s with regret that we announce another player has been banned from our competitions.

Sandik – Speedhack – 1 year ban

Obscure vote

Due to the recent release of cp_obscure_rc2, we have decided to conduct a poll to see which version of Obscure you would like to play in the upcoming league fixtures.

As Byte has already mentioned in the Obscure thread, it was a mistake to implement such changes into a release candidate version, but he feels and the majority of players he has spoken to agree that the changes were necessary. However, having said that, we realise that many clans may have already been practising hard on cp_obscure_rc1 and may wish to play this version in Season 7. So, we’re asking you, the community, to decide which version you wish to play in the league.

Please note that any versions after cp_obscure_rc2 will purely be visual and bug fixes. So any further updates to Obscure will be cosmetic and slight tweak changes only.

If you wish to discuss this further, pop along to the cp_obscure thread.

Admin departures

It is with great sadness that we have to say goodbye to our fellow admins Chocolate, Linc0ln and Jonni due to real life commitments. We thank them for all their efforts down the months and years that they have committed to ETF2L.

We are still looking for committed admins to join our league. If you’re interested in helping to push the community forward, get in touch.

If you are interested in joining our team please send an email to d2m[at]etf2l.org with the following details:

• ETF2L Nickname
• Real name, age and nationality
• Spoken languages (average english required)
• Past admin experience (crucial for AC-admins)
• Motivation: why do you want to join our team?

Ready, set, go!

Season 7 starts today and will see 350 teams do battle across 6 divisions and 35 groups. The divisions have been painstakingly crafted by the admin team and are ready for you to peruse. Make sure to get in contact with the other teams in your group as soon as possible so the scheduling process goes smoothly. Check out the league-wide Week 1 fixtures.

There have been a lot of new teams added from the waiting list, so be sure to check out if you are in the tables. If you are still on the waiting list, don’t worry, there will surely be room to replace more dropping teams. Being active and easily reachable helps your chances a lot.

We’d also like to take this chance to remind teams to use the relevant match pages to record scheduling/merc/unlocks notes and agreements. Doing so will help the admin team resolve any disputes. Make sure that your team has read and understood the rules, especially if this is your first season. They have been updated with new rules regarding hijacking teams, wildcards and unlocks. Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse.

We wish you and your team the very best of luck.

• Fixed maps will be scheduled as follows:
  • Week 1: Badlands and Well
    Week 2: Turbine and Well
    Week 3: Granary and Gullywash
    Week 4: Turbine and Gullywash
    Week 5: Gravel Pit and Obscure
    Week 6: Freight and Obscure
    Week 7: Granary and Gorge
    Week 8: Freight and Gorge
    Week 9: Badlands and Gravel Pit

• Dates in detail:
  • Week 1 starts: Monday the 8th of February
  • Week 1 schedule deadline: Sunday the 14th of February
  • Week 1 match deadline: Sunday the 21st of February
  • Week 2 starts: Monday the 14th of February
  • Week 2 schedule deadline:Sunday the 21st of February

5th Cup Round 2 Starts

Round 2 fixtures have been generated as the Cup moves onto its second stage. Make sure to take a look at the playoff tree!

We’re also happy to announce the following TF2 merchandise as prizes, courtesy of Valve:

• 1st place: 6 t-shirts, 6 signed posters, 5 (!) game-rig mousemats
• 2nd place: 3 t-shirts (you’ll have to fight amongst yourselves!), 6 signed posters, 6 character keyrings
• 3rd place: 6 signed posters, 6 character keyrings

Dates in detail:

• Round 2 starts: Monday the 8th of February
• Round 2 schedule deadline: Sunday the 14th of February
• Round 2 match deadline: Sunday the 21st of February
• Round 3 live draw: Sunday the 21st of February
• Round 3 starts: Monday the 22nd of February

Two more added to the banlist

The following players have been banned for cheating:

• Levela – Aimbot (Caught by Aequitas) -1 year ban
• Quad – Aimbot – 1 year ban

Admin Applications

Today we welcome Anderson to the admin team. Thanks for all the admin applications we have received, there have been more than ever before. We will be contacting people for interviews this week for further positions.

ESH ASRock Challenge Cup needs more signups

Our joint venture with ESH has been really successful so far, but we still need you guys to take part in as many competitions as possible! The latest cup called the ASRock Challenge is still accepting signups. The cup itself will run on Monday the 15th February, starting at 20:00CET. Check the ASRock Challenge Cup page for more details and get your team added before it’s too late!

Season 7: A big welcome to 330 teams!

The European Team Fortress 2 League and it’s admins are glad to be able to welcome 330 participating teams to the 7th ETF2L season sponsored by Steelseries.

Below you will find a list with the teams and their divisions. If your team is not on the list, don’t worry, there is still a huge chance you will be able to replace one of the teams that will fold at the start of this season. The exact divisions and fixtures will be published along with the announcement of the prizes in a newspost next weekend. The first week will start on the 8th of February and it’s schedule deadline will be on Sunday the 14th.

Season 7 – Provisional Divisions

The provisional divisions have been sorted for Season 7 – Provisional Divisions

This has been an exhaustive task, as there were unfortunately a large number of teams that signed up for Season 7 and have subsequently got less than 5 players in their team. We have replaced any team with less than 5 players left in their line-up. The teams with 5 players – you must have 6 players in your squad by Sunday 7th February 2010 or you will be replaced by a team on the waiting list.

As usual, there will likely be some teams unhappy with the divisional level they have been placed in. If you wish to discuss this, please send me an email to: d2m [at] etf2l.org. In your email, please link us to any supporting screenshots/evidence to help with your argument to be moved divisions. I’d greatly appreciate it if you could give a link to download the screenshots, not attach them to your email. This is an invitation to discuss your team’s position with us and allow us to better place your team should we feel it is necessary. Please note that rage posting on the forum or news comments will not assist your team in any way.

Config Update

In the great updates valve has blessed us with 2 new commands drew our attention. The first one turns off the random spread pattern of weapons like the shotgun and uses  a fixed pattern instead. The second one allows the use of the ingame voice-chat for talking to your team, even while you are dead.  Both are perfect for competitive gaming. And the official ETF2L config will therefore be updated with those 2 commands. Please update your server with this new version of our config and use it in any upcoming Cup, Ladder and League matches.

-> [Official ETF2L League Config] <-

Admin search

As our league is ever expanding the ETF2L will be looking for new league and anti-cheat admins to strengthen our staff. _Ben has joined the Admin team this weekend, and we are looking for a couple more admins to assist us with a number of competitions and ideas for 2010.

If you are interested in joining our team please send an email to d2m[at]etf2l.org with the following details:

Season 6 Award Winners

As the start of a fresh new season comes closer we still have to honour the winners of the awards for season 6.  TCM-gaming’s Zerox deserves a special spotlight for being voted player and scout of the season. He is also the only non-Finnish player that won one of this seasons class votes. Our congratulations to the winners and a big thanks to everyone who voted.

Team awards:

• Most Surprising Team –  illegal! (Division 1)
• Fairplay Award –  CantFitMyN (Division 6i)
• Most Disappointing Drop –  Team CoolerMaster (Division 1 – old lineup)
• Division 3 team of the Season –  Monster Munch
• Division 4 team of the Season –  Clones-Inc
• Division 5 team of the Season –  Monkey Gamers
• Division 6 team of the Season –  Klan:fader

Player awards:

• Player of the season Zerox (TCM-Gaming)
• Most Underrated Player –  Gdk (Recapture)
• Demoman of the Season – Hymzi (illegal!)
• Medic of the Season –  Kyynel (Power Gaming)
• Scout of the Season – Zerox (TCM-Gaming)
• Soldier of the Season –  Hocz (illegal!)

Other:

• Biggest scandal –   boomeh caught cheating

As a final note, many thanks to _Ben, Racio and Anrolif who stayed up very late to finalise the divisions and get them posted for you as soon as we possibly could. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to read this news post and look at the divisions over your breakfast.

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