Magic theorists and keen students of the arcane may remember a time (Season 35) when da wizzerds guild graced ETF2L Premiership. Now with many serious adversaries scrapping at the summit, mak has summoned his strongest spellcasters back to the roster in an effort to establish $HADOWWIZARDMONEYGANG as an ominous force in European TF2.

mak left the guild still an apprentice, but returns as a master having claimed a Premiership title with Witness Gaming in Season 40. The dependable Demoman also collected his third Division 1 gold medal last season with SVIFT and will now be facing off against danny’s boys, having helped them earn promotion. But it is from a prior Div 1 success that mak reforges his team, with Jordy, aph and Opti all rejoining their FIVE GUYS teamleader from Season 36.

Since then, Jordy and aph have mostly been stuck in low Prem / top Div 1 purgatory with trust the process. Jordy brings a charming old-school waddle to his Pocket Soldier and interesting ideas to his teams, and as "nuking is now legal worldwide" the opposition will need to be on high alert. The casual viewer may struggle to distinguish aph from a plethora of other talented Finnish scout mains, but high praise from papi and dmoule on the recent Fully Charged suggests he is greatly respected by his peers.

Likewise, Opti is a player to be respected and feared, having also proven himself among the elite as part of Witness Gaming’s S40 champions. The French Roamer hasn’t played many officials since then, but always exudes pressure through the intelligent use of unlocks and displays great wisdom in the timing of his flanks. Expect spellbinding airshots, Pain Train backcaps, and perhaps even some Mantreads gimmicks in the coming season.

Fellow countryman patchouli is a new addition having played the Medic role on several different all-French teams in recent seasons and finished third in Premiership with 3 AND A HALF STARS (S39) and habibi la(rdon) frappe 2 fou batard (S40). varnu rounds out the roster by bringing a chaotic nuisance as Flank Scout: the former Venomcrest Python will be looking to conjure up some dark magic alongside Opti in what will be a formidable flank.

The team (and this article) are backed by "The Shadow Government" which is not merely the most powerful but also the most morally upstanding sponsor left in TF2. However, harsh challenges await over this Winter Showdown 2023 Season, and time will tell if $HADOWWIZARDMONEYGANG have practiced enough witchcraft over the break. To delve deeper into their prospects, we talked to mak:

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: It’s been a few years since you guys have played ETF2L Prem together, what spurred you to bring the gang back for this season?

Going to RCADIA and doing well with a last second mix team gave me, aph and Jordy new motivation to play the next season, especially because there was meant to be a Copenhagen LAN (RIP). We all trialled around with a few teams then settled on building our own team when it became obvious that no one wanted us because we are crap online.

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: varnu and patchouli are your new faces. Why did you choose them?

In the past our teams would already have 2 Scouts and varnu was still breaking into Prem, so timing never really allowed for it. This offseason we had to trial for a second scout, and varnu was available so we tried it out. Much to our surprise they were still a massive noob, but better than the rest. patchouli we picked up as he was the only Medic that satisfied our 2 conditions for a Medic: 1) Deranged enough to do anything Jordy wants and 2) Not Doughy.

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: How do you see yourselves matching up against the other prem teams?

I think the recent Fully Charged (#56) got it right - places 3-6 should be hotly contested. Nati Noot and SVIFT shouldn't be written off either, especially for a team like ours. The 2 playoffs spots will be decided by how cleanly we can win the "easy" games and how many points our opponents drop to them, as well as how many we can take off each other obviously. With no LAN there should be less pressure, so we're just gonna play every week and see where it takes us, should be a fun season :]

With a full set of spells prepared, $HADOWWIZARDMONEYGANG are:

• Pocket Scout: aph
• Flank Scout: varnu
• Roamer: Opti
• Pocket: Jordy
• Demoman: mak
• Medic: patchouli