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Two years after its last edition and ten years after the concept was first introduced on the now-defunct TF2Connexion.fr website, another edition of the NTF2CL will be held this weekend. Like its predecessors, this weekend’s cup will feature teams assembled with a draft system, meaning that instead of having teams made up of friend groups, eight captains had to pick their ideal roster while balancing their own funds (check out the prices of each player here) and adapting on the fly to each other’s picks.
Roster pictures done by Antimation
The cup will be split over two days, with a round robin stage on Saturday afternoon where teams will play each other in Best-of-1 matches in order to determine the seeding for Sunday. Playoffs will take up the entirety of Sunday, with Best-of-3 games starting at the quarter-final level in the afternoon and moving up all the way to the Grand Final in the evening. Playoffs are single elimination, but there will be a match to determine the third place as well. The same ruleset as ETF2L will apply, with a couple of key changes regarding off-classing: only scouts and roamers can offclass and Sniper is not allowed to be used on KOTH maps. 120$ as well as 150$ worth of codes on mannco.store will be up for grabs.
The map pool is as follows :
- cp_process_f12
- cp_snakewater_final1
- cp_sunshine
- cp_gullywash_f9
- cp_granary_pro_rc14
- koth_product_final
- koth_clearcut_b15d
- cp_metalworks_f5
- cp_reckoner_rc6
osvaldo, one of the organizers, explained the genesis of this iteration of the NTF2CL :
In the past months, several members of the French community have been trying to bring everyone together and integrate newer players with mixes, mentoring, etc. on a discord dedicated to French TF2 competitive.
The NTF2CL and its draft format is a long-standing cornerstone of that community and has always been a great opportunity to get the whole French community together. It's also a great place to allow up and comers to prove themselves while learning from higher-level players. This edition marks the 10th anniversary ever since the very first NTF2CL cup. This time around, we've given plenty more liberties to captains to increase the amount of player combinations and new strategies. We've also introduced a new pricing system that rates each player on each class they are registered in, reworked the pick order system and added a couple new rules to continue improving equity between teams. Right now the teams are looking quite balanced which should make for very close games!
Huge shoutout to Azitio for leading this edition's organization and coordinating everyone. And also a huge thanks to all the players that helped in the jury to rate players, in organizing the draft, securing a cash prize, designing the logos and banners of the event, etc... brujman, chey, Sibola, SIA, Sossok, juxta, Alien, Cadillac and acanta
The first rounds of each day will be streamed on DuMmTm's Twitch channel, and teamfortress.tv coverage will start at 17:45 CEST on Saturday and 16:30 CEST on Sunday. The cup's progress can also be followed on its Toornament page.