As is often the case when the 6v6 offseason comes around, many European communities find ways to fill the gaps in ETF2L seasons with a wide variety of cups, leagues and tournaments to celebrate the game we all love. This summer is no different, with events including the 6v6 Summer Brawl, ETF2L Nations Cup #10 and poLANd.tf 2024 #summer. To add to that list, the French TF2 community is proud to announce that the 2024 edition of NTF2CL will be taking place this weekend, powered by mannco.store!
NTF2CL is a mix cup, and we will be seeing a return of the priced draft to determine the teams. Each player is assigned a price and the captains take turns to pick players, whilst ensuring that their team stays within their allotted budget. Last year this format produced closely contested matches throughout the tournament, so this year we can dream of more of the same. The seven teams produced by this draft are as follows:
Graphic by Cuby
These teams will be battling for their share of a prize pool of €250 in TF2 Keys, supplied by event sponsor mannco.store!
The weekend begins with a round robin best-of-one group stage on Saturday 20th July for seeding, followed by a double elimination bracket on Sunday 21st July. The upper bracket final, lower bracket final and grand final will each be best-of-three. The exact details of the tournament format can be found on Toornament.
The cup will use the ETF2L config, but with some added rules to restrict offclassing: on KOTH maps Sniper is banned entirely, and on 5CP maps combo players may only offclass on the two last points.
The map pool for the cup will be as follows:
- cp_granary_pro_rc14
- cp_gullywash_f9
- cp_process_f12
- cp_metalworks_f5
- cp_snakewater_final1
- cp_sunshine
- koth_bagel_rc8
- koth_product_final
Matches will start at 14 CEST on both days, with live coverage by EssentialsTF.
Organiser Cuby had the following closing words to say about the cup:
The NTF2CL is a yearly French cup whose goal is to unite experienced players with beginners. It is a long awaited cup among the French community and I hope people will have fun and keep the hype as high as possible.