As ETF2L’s Season 40 begins and the winds of change blow through Premiership, teo make their appearance. Formerly known as lfroamer, they are a team serious about cementing themselves at the top level after several seasons of grinding it out in Division 1 (both with and against each other). Several of them tried before on gamingclan.gg in Season 38, though failed to make it through qualifiers, but now they’re back and better than ever. As the lowest placed of the qualifying teams, teo come into the main season as the underdogs of Premiership, but it’s not all doom and gloom: their qualifier match showed potential and there are many teams against which they could take rounds if not whole maps. Their schedule, too, gives them time before they face the strongest teams in the division, which could set them up for a better season than many would predict, and if they can prove they deserve to stay in Prem their season will have been a success.

teo’s route to Prem came through the qualifiers, where they lost to habibi la(rdon) frappe 2 fou batard in a tense series that, at 1-2, 6-1, 1-2, they had several chances to win. They first picked Snakewater only for the Frenchies to take victory in the last minute, before on Gullywash hemp and co stepped up to push the Frenchies to win difference and force the decider of Process. Here, the teams took a round apiece before settling into a slugfest all across the map, with both teams having chances to win the round before the Frenchies finally did so, and with teo unable to respond they were knocked down to the losers’ playoff. Here, they had a stroke of luck as Vibrams’ folded, putting teo straight through to Prem and giving them the chance at redemption and/or revenge.

Arguably the most productive players in their qualifier, teo sees the Scandinavian scouts of hemp and aph continue fragging from last season, where they made Division 1 playoffs with mkkitten. For Pocket Scout hemp, this won’t be their first Prem rodeo, having fought through qualifiers before on Season 38’s The Bus Crew, while Flank Scout aph won Division 1 twice alongside Jordy on FIVE GUYS and The Theorists, and would feature in Prem with the latter in Season 32. Both Division 1 mainstays, the qualifier showed they can put up devastating performances when called on, and if they can repeat this it will prove they truly have what it takes to make that final step up.

On the other side of the coin, Demo Derpy Hooves and Medic auto are the more experienced pairing, with auto coming off a run with Garda Panteri last season that saw them make it all the way to playoffs, while Derpy Hooves (also known as ALX1) had more underwhelming results under the nunya banner. Before that, they played Season 37 and 36 together, and will doubtless be hoping that the magic of their friendship can form the heart of the roster.

Finally, the soldiers of teo are its unknown quantity. Roamer silves is a comparative newcomer to this combination of players and was the last addition to the team, securing their position only days before qualifiers. They are not inexperienced, though; Season 36 saw them make it all the way to Div 1 finals with веазтмоде, where they lost to Jordy and aph’s FIVE GUYS, before an abortive Prem run in Season 38 with Goblin Clan and only sporadic appearances since. Likewise, Pocket Jordy has rarely featured in the top flight in the past few seasons, but as maincaller and another The Theorists alumnus they will be looking to step up and shake off the rust.

We caught up with Jordy to find out how the team was getting on:

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: A lot of you have played together before but not in this exact lineup, how did this roster start?

Aph & I go way back since s29 and played together on friend teams for almost every season till I quit, I knew that if I were to play a season again it'd either be with aph or mak. When I moved back home I played some cups and offseasons and got in touch with some up and comers like alx & auto and got asked to trial by alx. Aph got kicked out the army so it was the perfect opportunity to play together again so auto alx aph and myself became a core relatively quickly, aph had played with hempus before and he proved to be a fucking beast so we picked him up on pocket scout instantly. After asking around everyone we knew we realized our only hope for a roamer would be Teo. Teo at first refused, as he doesn't have time to commit to tf2 because he needs to spend 16 hours a day playing Smite as he’s entering the SPL qualifiers. Unfortunately for him, he’s been perma banned by hi-rez so he has time to play with us now. Because of unfortunate circumstances we haven’t been able to play with him yet, but as soon as his PC is fixed we will start playing 5 nights a week with him on main. For now we have silves as a temporary substitute.

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: You’ve been scrimming quite intensely and most of your players have some Prem experience, do you feel ready for the season or is there still a lot to learn?

there is potential

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: Where would you rank yourselves in this Prem division?

7th

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: What’s your goal for the season?

I have a personal goal of proving myself as the worst active pocket soldier in prem.

With their namesake out of action, teo will be fielding:

• Pocket Scout: hemp
• Flank Scout: aph
• Roamer: silves
• Pocket: Jordy
• Demoman: Derpy Hooves
• Medic: auto