Highlander. A controversial word to some, yet a breath of fresh air to many players in ETF2L. Goddamnit prejudice! With the seventh season of ETF2L’s Highlander league just around the corner, teams across Europe, as well as a few American teams, preparation has already been under way for claiming that gold medal. Subsequently the competition in the higher divisions, and potentially lower, has been increased due to the amount of commitment being put in by the players of their respective teams. Therefore, logically, you can expect arguably some of the best games to be put on show to you, the viewer, over on BlackoutGamingTV for the duration of the season.

However with teams forever disbanding and forming, the Premiership division may look a bit… skewed to some. With teams like itsallgood folding after a 2nd place finish last season, long time players of Highlander may be skeptical of the talent in Prem. Conversely, after the TeamFortress.TV Highlander Invitational #2, it seemed like many of the newer teams could contest the top teams in Prem. PremTech put on a great show throughout the duration of the invitational, eventually placing third along with beating teams like Stacked and Team Nein! The newest team to come into the Premiership division, Voodooh, also placed a very respectable 4th, their biggest win being against Season 5 champions Kill Switch. Surely with upsets like this there has to be some in the main season too, no?! Regardless, with teams either rising up from the ranks, or standing tall like a titan, the Premiership looks to impress in all ways possible; with roster changes abound before the beginning of the season, and potential juicy drama for your eyes to feast upon throughout, this season of Highlander has certainly dressed itself up to have a good time.

Due to many changes in the teams compared to last season, the Premiership has a lot of newcomers embarking onto the boat of Prem. Only time will whether they will be able to withstand the choppy currents that are inevitable in their season. Each team has their own strengths and own weaknesses, where they will be slowly picked apart throughout the course of this season. So let’s meet the teams who’ll be duking it out for the grand prize of the best European Highlander team!

Tourettes Chessclub

Since Season 9, Tourettes Chessclub have worked their way up from the Steel division of UGC, into one of the top contenders of the Premiership crown. Although starting in the small leagues, under the lead of Pyro main Scissors, Chessclub have always performed well. After winning Division 1 in Season 5, Chessclub managed to secure a Premiership spot in Season 6, where they finished 3rd after a grand victory over Kill Switch. Consequently Chessclub are still turning heads in their scrims and officials, albeit their roster has changed significantly since their beginnings in UGC.

With the core players of Sprayer, Scissors and Khazul still rocking the Chessclub tag, the other spots have changed several times, the most recent being the English soldier superstar, T’, who left for the eventual collapse that was Momentum Esports. However T’ has now appeared on the Voodooh roster. Back to Chessclub, their roster has managed to stabilise into a powerhouse that shatters fear into their enemies. With the Latvian flank of atomic- and uubers on Scout and Soldier respectively, both players can crush on the flank and create big plays whenever necessary. BreakfasT_Jr, who impressed many a player when playing for England in the Nations Cup back in the summer has managed to still impress by being one of the best Heavies in the league currently. (Aspiring heavy mains, take note.) Under the handle of the Lithuanian Medic Sprayer, along with the ever-enthusiastic Quintosh taking up the Demoman role, Chessclub look dominant in the combo stage too. Throw in the revolver enthusiast Spy Khazul, 200 ping Sniper god tracker and Essex inspired Bananaman, Chessclub’s roster continue to impress. If one team were to topple Highpander for first place, the first team that comes into my mind is Chessclub. After so long being able to contest with the best, they always lose out by the smallest of margins. However, from Scissors himself, they were finally able to beat Highpander in a PCW. Could this be the first signs of a new superior in the ranks? As a wise man once said: “Watch this space”.

hePPa

A long-standing team in regards to the other competition it stands up to, hePPa are a Finnish-exclusive team, recently taking players from the now-deceased colony. After playing in Division 2 and 1 for the past few season, hePPa finally have an opportunity to play in the bigger league of Prem. Having a boatload of experience from all the players on their roster, hePPa look strong coming into the new season.

Adding in the legendary return of Kurates on Heavy alongside the Juppe himself, Salmon on Soldier, it looks to be a more promising run in the Premiership. Although having declining results in previous seasons in Division 1, hePPa bring in bloodthirsty competition from the lower ranks that could have the possibility of bringing surprises to the fray. With Santtu accompanying Salmon on the flank it looks like a promising time for crazy plays. Fingers crossed Beater will be able to catch this in his STV fragshow at the end of the season. In the combo of hePPa we have nappr of previous colony fame assisting Kurates, with Cauthon from 6v6 team Euphoria on the Medic spot. With the return of the deity Finnish Heavy, we could see some great teamwork coming out of hePPa. The new captain, Toba, formerly a Demoman and Heavy main, switches to Pyro for this season, adding in a hint of new opportunity in the Finnish squad. For pick classes we have ex-colony players MInd and SabaSaba, throwing into the Mammi mixture very experienced players that can certainly turn the tide of the game, particularly SabaSaba’s oldschool playstyle with the majority of frags coming from the knife compared to the revolver. It will be interesting to see how hePPa form in this season; with a new spearhead in the combo and the shuffling of players around, this could be a make or break situation. Regardless, they could probably take some points off of teams like Premtech and Stacked, but whether they could compete with the likes of Highpander is unknown at this stage.

Fair Enough

After being moved up to the Premiership after French superteam DAROUTOUTOU dropped from last season, Fair Enough, formerly under the Splendid-Gaming sponsor finished 7th, and retained their Premiership spot by eeking out a victory over Premtech in the Premiership Relegation Playoff. During the end of last season however, they were practicing hard, and came away victorious in Wireplay’s last season, meaning they do have some silverware to boast about. Conversely, whilst Fair Enough are considered to be a solid team in this season of Prem, they struggled in the invitational, losing out to Stacked and surprisingly, Voodooh. Now sponsored by TF2Pickup.net as well as whitelist.tf, they have the support needed to tackle any issue regarding servers. Which is great for any impatient caster waiting.

When looking at the other teams around Fair Enough, their roster hasn’t particularly changed. Although bringing in players from lower divisions like Villdjack who had a fantastic Nations Cup most players return like Lalli on Demoman. Fe look contrastingly different on the flank however. Picking up Hartz on the flank means you will see crazy plays from the Swiss Soldier. With W1nco of Animate Esports fame keening up for this season and replacing Issun, the previous Scout, the flank of Fair Enough looks solid to contend with what Highpander or Chessclub have at their disposal. Supporting Villdjack in the pick classes is the German wonder Sniper from his Team Nein! days is Blooddrunk, an excellent Sniper that can shift momentum with just one scoped shot. Expect him to drive into every team this season and boast excellent stats. As mentioned previously, Lalli returns to play another season of Highlander, along with Qnai, a Heavy with tons of experience that will be a huge asset to Fair Enough. Their Medic/captain, Jakeowaty, has been playing well throughout prior seasons, so expect solid teamwork in their combo. (Special shoutout to Jake for finally persuading me to write again, much love xoxo.) Wrapping up their roster are Goreston and Zimmer, two players who started around the same time as yours truly and have worked their way up the divisions a lot better than I did. Expect Fair Enough to turn some heads on their quest; I would rate them as definite playoff potential.

Voodooh

Formerly under Super Dickmann’s, this cacophony of ragtag players around Prem/Division 1/ Division 2 has now formed to take one of the last Premiership spots. After taking 2nd in Division 2 last season, their roster was changed very quickly, with many players shifted or being completely benched. However, their roster has now stabilised and looks promising to cause some upsets this season.

With Snooki leading the team and being an outlandish Spy main, his team of hand-picked players has brilliant talent stemmed within Voodooh. In their combo, ex-Kill Switch Demoman duck and spearhead of the team Sandvich on Heavy represent the main strengths within this team: Sandvich in particular turned many heads last season posting insane stats throughout as well as having some of the best tracking. Recently picking up >MF< as Pyro will also boost Voodooh in the Spy denial stakes due to the constant praises of >MF< with his spychecking ability. On the flank we have OsZ and JackyLegs, who both have high-level experience, particularly JackyLegs who is currently playing with saloon.tf in this current 6v6 season. Both played well in the recent invitational and will hopefully be looking to upset and irritate the entirety of their opposition. With Snooki playing a more old-school style of Spy with knife and gun, the sniping aspect mainly falls on thaZu., of Auto-Aim notoriety. Previously sniping for Chessclub as well as Momentum Esports, he holds a lot of experience in the high levels of Highlander - with such a high level of sniping in this season, we could see a lot of sick shots (remember #ss?) ring out across every map played. Voodooh look like a team that could surprise the majority of the mid-table, and maybe even could take a few points off of Highpander. Their 4th place finish in the invitational justifies that they are not a team to be taken lightly due to their inexperience; Voodooh are here to show their might against the best of the best, and it will be interesting to see what they can pull out of their hats. Unique, strange or even unusual, what they pull out of their hats can have strong implications throughout the season.

Highpander

The kings return for another season to defend their crown. After a shaky final with itsallgood, Highpander eventually sealed the deal over 3 maps and managed to be crowned the best in Europe. After the determination of team captain Hildreth, Europe finally had a team to look up to and aspire. Due to the changing tides of the players’ out of game lives, the pandas have had their roster slightly shifted to adapt for this season. It begs the question however, whether Highpander can be as dominant as they were last season, or if lower teams can scrape a few points here and there: otherwise it may be a rocky campaign.

Although the roster may have changed dynamically, the core players still remain in the main squad. With Hildreth still on the Demoman role and Piddox playing a mean Heavy, the combo of Highpander looks to continue being the strongest in Prem. Supporting the dynamic duo on Pyro is Steve, who was without a doubt the best Pyro in Season 6, and played extremely well in the Invitational - in one game against Stacked on Process, Steve was the top fragger with 39 frags in just under 30 minutes. With the previous Scout switching to Medic again, just like in his colony days, the heal-centric Medic of kissakala at the helm will make you expect to see glorious drops in high definition at your monitors. All joking aside, the same combo of Furbo Pandas being converted into Highlander format can have huge implications, due to the positioning and communication factor. Comparatively on the flank, the man behind logs.tf zoob is back for another season as Soldier; after a fairly quiet few season from the 6s community, his ability to play and adapt throughout a game has now been noticed by the 6s community as well as the 9s. However after kissakala’s switch to Medic, their Scout has significantly changed. Yangpie, now playing for Highpander and succumbing to Hildreth's power after playing in that game with Lazy Pandas is now converting from his 6v6 elitism to Highlander slowly but surely; fingers crossed this slowly but surely will happen to other high-level 6s players. Enough rambling on, the flank of Highpander look to be crushing faces again after a switch around that looks to instigate fear into their enemies. Support-wise, ever prominent Sniper-turned roamer in 6s phromelo will be returning to retain his dominance. However, after one of the best Spies of last season, Solid moved to sub due to hand problems, ex-Kill Switch Spy Grenjabob, a very old-school Spy with the majority of frags coming from the regular knife, has been drafted in. Grenjabob last season was known for his single picks that could turn the momentum in a match, and for his strange ill desires for the Dead Ringer. On top of this, he now shares a room with Steve at their university dorms. Bless them. With other regulars like Nijoonen staying in the team as Engineer, and backups like Mr.Epic, as well as bringing in players like Tek and droso to back up, Highpander look set to take on their old enemies, and soon-to-be new.

Stacked

Lock up your Samsung Galaxies, b33p is back! With his tagteam of employees to wreak havoc inside the Premiership headquarters. After much controversy associated with Stacked and its cohorts during last season, with that loss against itsallgood, Stacked return with their roster filled to the brim with players of very high calibre. Missing out on the playoffs last season and finishing in 5th place, Stacked this season has changed significantly, meaning we see a completely different side that can have very big implications.

With their notorious Pyro main (aka the Notorious P.R.O.) still leading the team, b33p still holds the main spot in the team. Keeping sorex as Scout on the flank gives way to a high DM factor. However with TausoN now moving to sub, the Soldier spot is now filled in by legendary 6v6 player F2, arguably one of the biggest changes in the Stacked roster. As well as the flank looking to have significantly changed, the combo of Stacked has shuffled considerably. Saying goodbye to huhy and smzii on Demoman and Heavy respectively, their replacements are current LEGO Medic Dr.Phil and Suzy, who represented France in the most recent Highlander Nations Cup. Having a new combo to work with could possibly indicate that Stacked may be quite shaky in the fledgling weeks of this season. To make the roster even more different legendary potato endorser Admirable has been replaced by theoverseer, the well-known American Medic currently playing for Ginyu Force in UGC. Inevitably there will be a difference when it comes to playstyle due to the NA side of things, but it should be of no concern; the close handpicking of players makes this side seem quite formidable when it comes to single players. The other change on Stacked is ex-sBooB Team and Momentum Esports Spy, H.A.R.D. who replaces Spy main-turned 6v6 tryhard Tutorial, who now plays for Premtech. Known by the majority of the Prem community, H.A.R.D.’s aggressive Revolver+ Dead Ringer oriented style has always impressed myself whenever I’ve seen him play. To wrap up the roster, MUSA is still playing as Stacked’s main Engineer, with ex-Osmoz Engineer Mista subbing. Overall for Stacked their roster, although particularly unknown, looks solid enough to contest mid-Prem, and possibly the likes of Chessclub. Even though their shock loss to what was Fair Enough at the beginning of last season turned a few heads, they managed to revitalise themselves throughout the season albeit missing the playoffs. Looking into prospects for the end of the season, Stacked do look like a team that can keep its Prem spot for sure; whether they can contest at the top will be questioned throughout the duration of the season however.

Kill Switch

After being so dominant in Division 1 for Season 4, and taking victory in Prem for Season 5, Kill Switch looked like they were in incredible form going into last season. However, in Emilio Estevez’s own words, Kill Switch suffered from “second season syndrome”, where players started to argue, and newly-acquired players just didn’t seem to gel properly with the core. After a lacklustre result to some, only finishing 4th, Kill Switch have been revitalised into its dominant force that we saw back in Season 5. For the majority.

With old Scout chan now delegating to Oxy in Division 1 this season, prior sub Scout Dennia has been drafted in to replace. On the flank with him will be Swedish Soldier from Dennia’s old 6v6 team Saints, ondkaja, which could signify some great teamwork on the flank due to playing together for so long. After having it's Mint jettisoning for Japan last season, he now returns to continue to change the Engineer meta and be an inspiration to many as, the class that can. Also returning to play this season is Finnish Medic Hegee, one of the only Medics that Emilio could play with according to his recent Team Colonslash interview. Supporting Hegee in the combo for Kill Switch is Jamal, a hyper-aggressive Heavy that posts huge damage numbers in every scrim and official. Leader and in-game caller Emilio Estevez will be on his usual Demoman role posting insane damage stats, much like his previous seasons. Croatian Pyro Candle0 will also be returning to work his magic in Spy denial. Although old Sniper kcot has been moved to sub, Kill Switch have picked up an even more formidable Sniper: inso. After being one of the best Spies in the game for so long in itsallgood, a switch in class for the Nations Cup led him to turn even more heads, usually topfragging for Sweden. Having both kcot and inso in their arsenal give Kill Switch a lot of options going into this first week’s map, Upward. However with Grenjabob leaving for Highpander, the Spy spot is still open. Trialees like Carlotso25 will be wanting to impress Kill Switch who will be looking to give the spot for someone to continue Grenjabob’s legacy. Due to their problems last season, Kill Switch will be looking to impress with their near-same roster they had in their championship season. Although they may come across some problems with mid-teams like Fair Enough and Premtech, I have a feeling Kill Switch will be able to nab a playoff spot with some relative ease.

PremTech

Now that the “div1tech” binds finally thrown into the trashcan, PremTech can finally call themselves… PremTech? After losing out the guaranteed Prem spot to now-called Fair Enough, PremTech have been practicing to eventually nab one of the Premiership spots; fortunately, it has fallen into their laps and they have taken it with full effect. Also taking the Wireplay Season 12 crown, this is a side that has the potential to upset top teams this season, bringing another fresh contender for that could snatch a playoff spot come the end of the season.

PremTech have had some recent roster troubles, but the majority of them have been ironed out. Picking up Nursey from the American team Kids Next Door, PremTech may have to go through some playstyle differences due to the now intercontinental team, which could make them look a little shaky in the beginning weeks, much like Stacked. However the majority of the roster has been replenished or has stayed the same: with jwso on Scout and the legendary roamer of ShaDowBurn on the flank looks set to contest with the likes of atomic- and Hartz. The in-game leader and Demoman Maito still keeps his main spot, with an unknown Heavy as of yet supporting him. Bringing in Nursey to assist will be interesting for Maito as he is a very aggressive Demoman by nature and is not afraid to jump in when necessary. Currently for PremTech they are experimenting with different Heavies other than their main of ReseF, meaning their combo has not fully fledged just as of yet. Picking up ex-Stacked Spy Tutorial on Sniper needs to be paid close attention to, as he has to still keep a legacy on PremTech like Tseini did throughout Season 6. Throwing in the likes of Cobz, a fantastic Engineer and Polar, a consistent Spy that isn't afraid to go aggressive when the Ambassador, PremTech look like they can contest most teams in the Premiership. Maito himself said that he wanted his team to be equivalent to the likes of Highpander and Chessclub by the end of the season. However with their very recent changes to the side, any losses early on the season could damage their chances of a playoff spot significantly. If I were to sum up PremTech, it would be difficult; their roster looks good enough to take points off of all teams in the Premiership, but whether they would be able to give any chase to Highpander is unknown. Watch out for them in the closing weeks; they could prove deadly to others teams wanting a spot in the playoffs.

--Week 1 Predictions--

After a spooky Halloween weekend, we get to an even spookier beginning of November, and the ETF2L season: pl_upward. A common map to many players in ETF2L, Upward is one of the largest maps in the game currently, with teams usually pulling 8 minute times if teams are equally skilled. However, sub 5 minute times have been made before. For the first week of matches, it will be crucial to see who has the upper hand on certain teams - with the majority of the Premiership being so close when it comes to skill, taking points off of each other this early could help them to have a likelier chance to acquire a playoff spot. Taking into account the variety of preparation that teams will have, we could see a different first impression compared to what we could see at the end of this season. Six points are at stake here, although a Golden Cap loss will give the loser two points, which could mean the difference of a playoff spot, or surviving the relegation spot. Let that sink in. Rolling onto the fixtures!

Fair Enough vs. Tourettes Chessclub

The first fixture we have is one of the best this week. Even though Fair Enough had a disappointing Invitational, they have been looking more promising coming into the season. The same goes for Chessclub, who have beaten #1 seed Highpander in a PCW recently, showing they can contest right at the top. On Chessclub expect tracker to do a lot of work with his sniper rifle; although Blooddrunk boasts a higher amount of frags and may be considered a more consistent Sniper, it looks like Chessclub have been practicing more than Fair Enough at this moment in time. Subsequently, they have a likelier chance to come into the game more prepared. Giving that Chessclub overall have been looking better than Fair Enough recently, it's likely they have a better chance of winning. With such an open map like Upward, atomic- and uubers look better on paper than W1nco and Hartz, which could signify more openings that can be made by the Chessclub flank. The aggressive play of quintosh could assist better for Chessclub to take ground quicker, particularly on that dreaded third point, which is just so open. On Fair Enough however, Blooddrunk and Villdjack will look to impress and constantly harass Sprayer and his crew of mates. Being the creative mastermind that he is Zimmer will be one to watch out, with his creative sentry spots and cart-pushing ability. Although, I think this will be a Chessclub victory - even though Fair Enough had a brilliant first week last season taking all 6 points off of Stacked, Chessclub seem to be on another level. Expect Fair Enough to perform well but Chessclub will take all 6 points.

Fe 0 - 6 -chess-

hePPa vs. Stacked

Arguably the two worst teams in Prem at the moment, this fixture will be interesting to see who can come out on top. Even though Stacked have been looking disappointing in recent PCW results, their roster seems to look better in theory than hePPa. hePPa have not posted many PCW results so far either, possibly because of the current 6v6 season going on. On a map like Upward, many of the 6s classes' potential are nullified: with Scouts like Santtu and sorex mainly objectified to capping powers, their DM prowess is not fully expressed on Payload maps. However with legend of the game F2 and the big JUPPEPLAYS Salmon playing against each other on the Soldier class, it could be an interesting matchup. Combo-wise, hePPa look to have quite a significant advantage: with colony mastermind nappr duking it out against Dr.Phil, the combo looks even from this perspective. However with one of best Heavies to turn to Highlander, Kurates, going up against Suzy on Stacked, the gap looks to have opened up slightly. Although Suzy has a lot of experience playing for France in the recent Nations Cup, it may be a step up due to a new team environment. With rouHe, the CSS turned TF2 Sniper still clicking heads for Stacked, he will be doing a lot of work at very dodgy angles. Up against ex-colony Sniper MInd however, we could see a lot of battles solely dependent on which Sniper can get the first pick. Expect this match to go back and forth, with many scintillating plays in between. Whilst Stacked are a completely new team essentially, the experience at the top may shine through for them here. Expect hePPa to grab a couple of points here, but Stacked should cotton on to the strategies that hePPa bring out to bring it to a 4-2 scoreline in favour of Stacked.

hePPa 2 - 4 -st-

Highpander vs. PremTech

Highpander look set to go for their defending championship season. Comparatively PremTech are looking to just get a roster going that suits their leader, Maito. After speaking to him earlier, he just wants this week of Upward "to be out of the way", due to their player hunting as well as it being their worst map. With no preparation for PremTech for this week, predictions seem a no-brainer. On paper, Highpander look like they outclass PremTech nearly class for class - although anyone could outclass kissakala. PremTech bring in an American Medic, Nursey, who currently plays for Kids Next Door in UGC, and with Pinky, a returning Heavy who used to play for itsallgood playing tonight as a merc/ringer, it will be interesting to see how the PremTech combo adapt throughout the course of this season. In comparison Highpander look as dominant as ever coming off victorious in the Invitational. Although losing to Chessclub in a recent PCW on cp_process, that should be no problem for *Highpander*: although *PremTech* are considered to be a mid-table team this season, the talent on *Highpander* should make this game a fairly short one. With *Hildreth* leading calls and damage dealing, as well as *Piddox* cleaning up as Heavy, the combo looks set to try and demolish anything in their way. *Phromelo* sniping will give some trouble to *PremTech*, although the recent pickup of *Tutorial* on Sniper should give *PremTech* some breathing space when they need it. *Polar* should have a good game on Upward due to the crazy sightlines and his crazy Ambassador aim. Expect *Grenjabob* to also get crucial picks when needed. *Cobz* and *Nijoonen*, although blending into their teams when it comes to crazy plays, will be a vital asset to gain ground when both teams are on the offence. Whatever *PremTech* pulls out, expect *Highpander* to deny it, crush it, and then throw it away all in a matter of moments. 6-0 *Highpander*.

8-) 6 - 0 PremTech

Kill Switch vs. Voodooh

This could be a very surprising matchup, due to the new blood of Voodooh and revitalisation of Kill Switch. If this were two seasons ago, I would've said Kill Switch without a doubt to take this game in roughly 30 minutes. However with the comeback which could lead to rustiness, as well as Kill Switch still looking for players to cement their roster, Voodooh may have an early opportunity to take a few points off of potential rivals. Kill Switch and their new pickups at the moment, although still in an embryo-esque form, still look like a force to be reckoned with once the latter weeks come into play, which can bring some shock results. Sniping-wise, inso looks to have an advantage over thaZu. purely from experience at the top, due to inso's past seasons with itsallgood. It will be interesting to see how players like Snooki and cherry will compare to the likes of potentially Carlotso, although unconfirmed on Spy, and it's Mint on Engineer. Newcomers always have the likelihood to overcome the oldtimers, but in this case it may be unlikely. Whilst cherry is an insanely creative Engineer with great DM to boot, Mint has always been at the top level of sentry-building ability. Snooki is known to have some... rage within team comms if something goes wrong, albeit it should be calmed down - this is Premiership for heaven's sake, there's only the calmest of the calm here! Much like Snoop Dogg's basement. Combo-wise, Kill Switch has a lot more experience together compared to Voodooh. Although duck the ex-Demoman for Kill Switch will be playing against his old team, Emilio Estevez will be trying to shut him down at any given opportunity, giving Kill Switch more ground. I have a feeling that Voodooh will be trying as hard as they possibly can to try and get a few points in the beginning of the season to give them momentum into the second week where they play Highpander. It will be a closer game than most think, but I still have a feeling that Kill Switch will be the eventual victors. Voodooh however will pick up two points in this fixture to surprise Kill Switch, in which you, the viewer will be certainly entertained and surprised. 4-2 to Kill Switch.

|ks| 4 - 2 VDOH

So that's it for the first week. Apologies it's out at such short notice, but due to a fixture being played at the time of writing I feel that it is relevant to put something out before the season begins. Thanks to all the teams that helped give me information, and my iTunes library for keeping me awake.