Ironically, ridiculous DM (independent of gamesense) is the one great equalizer here, because the one surefire way to get around networking is to utterly dominate in pugs. DM donkeys can get headhunted by good teams, while brain players need to make their own and build up a core.

I think DM is actually UNDERRATED by most top players because they either a) take their own DM for granted once it becomes second nature/muscle memory, or b) play against other people with sick dm and therefore rely more on timing, coordination, map pool etc. to win

The thing is, it's theoretically possible to have godlike dm but be so dumb and antisocial that you can't hack it in invite/prem, but that's omega outlier status. If you grind mge on a class like scout and meet an absolute bare minimum for comms/not feeding your ass off you can play at a decent level.

I'd also add that there are players who are perceived to have succeeded at a high level due mainly to gamesense (like blaze), but still had totally acceptable DM for invite: you'll almost never find an example of someone succeeding at the top of invite with outlier bad DM

Move all the servers to Maine. Don't back down, double down.

yeah serious answer: playing flank scout on froyo was very demanding, with habib and b4nny both needing a lot of beam, and the fact that they didn't just mindlessly sac both soldiers very often to make free space. arekk had to balance out times where he basically had to take 0 heals with times while still being available to come over and play pocket scout at any moment, and he always balanced it well. he was really disciplined while still having impact. playing vs froyo in that era, every mid fight was like a slog where both teams lost players, but they always had 2 scouts alive at the end and just grinded it out.

also really good scout 1v1s, generally a flank warrior, good comms, good synergy with blaze, etc. etc.

his best season to me was the final esea season where he was probably froyo's best player, I think he got underrated for a while after that because he wasn't trying as hard (even by arekk standards) in some of the rgl seasons. when he was motivated he was pretty faultless though.

jimmy butler aint got that dog in him, dogs got that jimmy butler in them

gl brother, you'll come back stronger than ever

no one talks about what he did to aimers 1 through 6...

Aimer7IsADick

damn, whoever wrote this description is not the biggest TM06 fan lmao

Mlb needs to hire the wbc scriptwriters

I haven't played these yet, but re: the medic thing, it's a really difficult conundrum to solve. An auto-medic system MIGHT be the best solution, but it definitely wouldnt be as simple as in discord, for 3 main reasons:

1) in discord, people tend to know one another, so the medics also being captains is fine. In these pugs, you could easily get a randomized captain who doesn't know anyone. Potential solution is to allow the person picked to give someone else captain (could be like a sub request, just before game), but that would require effort.

2) in discord, sometimes people will volunteer for medic AFTER the roll, simply because the person chosen is known to be especially bad (or whiny) about having to play med. Again, you could address this with the equivalent of a sub request, but it could have a relatively short timer and the players would still have to play med if no one took it. Still not perfect, but better than nothing.

3) here's the real killer: if you're playing in discord where the skill level is like main or advanced and higher, there's a general limit to just how bad a medic can be. Not everyone is lolguy level, but they at least understand the absolute basics of the class. Random meds in these pugs, however, could lead to a totally new player being on the class, instead of something like flank scout or roamer where their inexperience is less immediately game-ruining. You'd hope that people would be more willing to volunteer using the above described systems in such a case, but what happens when no one does?

I'm not saying the automed thing is doomed to fail or anything, but these are important considerations

to be fair, he died in 1993

Yeah I enjoyed Yukon, I'm pretty sure it was never even formally voted out too, Killing just unilaterally nixed it

May be a map that hasn't aged well with modern skill level though, not sure

400 lbs

I think that's cp_labor?

Anyways no map has ever broken my brain more than dom_canalzone, there may be less fun maps but I'm still not remotely sure what the actual correct way to play it is

EDIT: oh shit, forgot to mention cp_ashville. NOT koth_ashville, cp_ashville. Good LORD was that bad, I think I hold the record for longest 1-map match of all time on that jawn (almost 2 hrs and 30 minutes).