In 2017, North America hosted its first “major” in TF2 comparable to the iSeries LAN events, with the best of Australia and Europe coming to North America to compete and crown the best in the world. Since then, Australia has been absent from interregional competition, with European and North American representation crossing the Atlantic to compete in Rewind II, i63, i65, and i69. Seven years later, Fireside and Physgun are bringing intercontinental competition back to North American soil, featuring all three major regions.

Poster by requim

Info

The event will take place 24-26 May at the Localhost venue in Lakewood, Colorado, just outside Denver. It will feature a 14-team tournament, including a group stage with a separate Invite group.

Tickets for the event release in February, with team slots costing $660 ($110 per player). The event will have 3 options for spectator tickets at $20, $35, and $50 respective to the length of the pass.

PCs and monitors will be provided to all teams in the tournament. While limited peripherals will be available as well, organizers recommend that players bring their own peripherals.

Additional info about PFD 2025 can be found in Fireside's extended FAQ here.

Format

The ruleset for the event will follow the ruleset currently used in RGL. KOTH maps will be played best-of-seven without a halftime, and 5CP maps will be played with a 30-minute timelimit and winlimit of 5. Continuous overtime will be used in playoffs but not in the group stage.

The group stage will feature best-of-one matches, with draws permitted. Select teams will play in the Invite Group, a round-robin group with guaranteed qualification into the playoffs.The other teams will play for the remaining playoff spots in the open group(s).

The playoffs will feature best-of-three matches leading up to the grand final. The grand final will be played as a best-of-five; in contrast with RGL, there will be no map advantage for the upper-bracket winner.

For teams which fail to qualify for the playoffs, there will be a B-tournament with open registration. Details to come.

Invited Teams

Four teams have accepted invites to the tournament, including recent domestic LAN champions from North America, Europe, and Oceania.

Like A G6

Like A G6 formed in 2021 to compete in RGL Season 7 in the buildup to RESUP Fullerton 2022 around a core of cap, bomo, SOOOOOAPYMEiSTER, and logan.

Despite falling short of grand finals online, the team hit the ground running on LAN, reaching three consecutive grand finals facing froyotech in each. At a froyotech-less DreamHack Atlanta, Like A G6 would begin a spectacular run of form in an unconventional grand final versus zone 6. G6 would carry this momentum forward, going on to win back-to-back RGL championships online before competing on LAN once more.

RESUP’s 2023 event at The Block in Philadelphia would see G6 facing FROYO in yet another LAN final. Despite a poor showing on the first map of Product, G6 would bounce back, only losing two rounds across the next two maps of Process and Metalworks, beating their demons and becoming RESUP champions. Without a LAN imminent, Like A G6 would not compete again until RGL Season 15, the second RGL season featuring a LAN playoffs. While the team would fall to froyotech in the grand final of Fireside Cup, G6 topped the standings at the end of RGL’s regular season and brought that same strength into the playoffs, winning the grand final from the lower bracket in a full four-map series.

With three consecutive LAN titles and three RGL championships under their belt, can Like A G6 show they’re not only the best in North America but the best in the world? Only time will tell.

The Dothogs

The Dothogs debuted in RGL Season 12, then under the moniker Greasy Dothogs, with a core of shamoo, pauldogg, SIN K4RMA, and Dank. Season 12 featured a new 2-stage regular season, and Dothogs took to the new format well, finishing the first stage at 6-1 in second place. The Dothogs would be destined for silver, as the team would finish in second once more in stage 2 and ultimately second overall after losing out 0-3 to an undefeated froyotech in the grand final.

A second place finish in their first season attracted the sponsorship of Global Clan who sponsored the team’s first LAN appearance at RESUP Philadelphia 2023. The event started slow for the freshly rebranded team, ending the Invite Group at 0-3. A strong start versus open qualifier The Sisters would bring Global Clan back to face the team’s kryptonite in froyotech in the upper bracket semifinals, only to fall once more without taking a map. GC pushed through the lower bracket just as they had done in RGL playoffs, taking wins over Big Crosshair and Ford Gaming to meet FROYO for a final time. Losing Metalworks in a 0-5 blowout, GC showed signs of life on Sunshine but ultimately lost the series and finished third in the event.

Having had a taste of LAN competition as a team, the team returned from a 7-month hiatus to compete once more in RGL Season 15 following the announcement of LAN finals. The team displayed strength over the regular season, taking a win off the elusive froyotech and not losing by more than 1 round in a map all season. Their 8-6 record qualified the team, still under the Global Clan brand, to the playoffs as the fourth seed. Despite competitive regular season games against the other playoff teams, Global Clan was swiftly knocked out of the upper bracket in the opening round. A close 3-map affair versus Season 6 champions Witness Gaming saw the team finish just off the podium in fourth place. Having now finished in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, can The Dothogs complete the cycle and take the title? We’ll find out in Denver.

Witness Gaming EU

• Pocket Scout: toemas_
• Flank Scout: ixy
• Roamer: hugo
• Pocket: papi
• Demo: LUKASTANK
• Medic: auto

Witness Gaming EU began back in 2021, formed to compete in Copenhagen Games 2022 and featuring toemas_ and hugo. Online, they saw early successes but after the Games were cancelled chaos ensued and they even dissolved briefly before reforming, with toemas_ now joined by ixy and papi as well as Domo, mulaa, and Silentes in the run-up to Insomnia 69. Here, they placed second to froyotech in a grand final that epitomised their then-slow style: the best in Europe couldn’t beat NA.

Online, Witness EU continued to rule EU, but on LAN it got close as RCADIA Fortress saw them pushed to the very limit by tf2easy in a grand final that went to every overtime possible before wG.EU finally closed it out. Their next test on LAN wouldn’t come until i71, where a changed roster featuring hugo, auto and Thaigrr took the final Insomnia trophy in a positive sign for the increasing aggression in their gameplay. Not long after, they would take one more trophy at poLANd.tf #winter 2024, where even the very best teams in Europe couldn’t win a map against them. wG.EU were uncontested European champions, and as such they quit.

No challengers and a lack of in-person competitions meant no further goals to strive for: the only crown higher than Europe’s would be the world’s. For several years, plan after plan fell through, and at one point they even considered playing RGL despite the time difference to qualify for LAN playoffs, but finally the kings of Europe are coming to America.

It’s not without changes. Long-standing Roamer Silentes won’t be with them, without whose playmaking the wG.EU stratbook will be thinner, but returning to the team is hugo, fresh from his trophy run at ÜBERFEST 2024 with NOOBPANZER. Likewise, Domo is out, and the loss of one of the best Demo players in Europe will leave a void in the combo that perhaps only one person can fill: LUKASTANK. Earlier LUKAS teams revolved around his output, planets orbiting the star of his firepower, but over time his teams have moved to a more equal footing, allowing other players to shine as in wG.EU they necessarily must. auto is one of the best Medics in Europe, ixy one of the best Scouts. papi is the best main-caller in the continent. toemas_ might be the best player in the whole damn world. There’s only one way to prove this; see you in Denver.

Witness Gaming EU contributed by JMaxchill

Witness Gaming AU

• Pocket Scout: cooki
• Flank Scout: silvo
• Roamer: down
• Pocket: conor
• Demo: enrith
• Medic: lau

Since their formation at the end of Season 28 in late 2020, soirée (now Witness Gaming AU) have been so dominant in the Oceanic scene that you would be remiss to not include them in the discussion for the best team to ever come out of Oceania. With a track record that rivals and arguably eclipses the domestic dominance of the great Team Immunity, Witness AU have established a legacy as one of the strongest rosters Australia has ever seen, and now they’re looking to test themselves against the very best the world has to offer.

You can make the argument that every player on Witness Gaming AU is the best in their role within the region. The backbone of the team is Pocket Scout cooki, Demoman enrith and Medic lau. Veteran cooki is the winningest player in ozfortress history, having comfortably eclipsed all Team Immunity and Jasmine Tea players in his time with Witness Gaming AU. enrith has long been the best Demoman in the country, having also been part of the XIAO roster that was going to attend the ill-fated BTS TF2 LAN in 2020. Many would tell you that lau is the best Medic in the region by quite a distance, and it’s hard to argue against that claim. silvo has been an instrumental part of Witness Gaming AU’s flank since their formation and is potentially the best Flank Scout in the country. The Soldier combo of conor and down stand above any other Soldier combo in the country and round out a very, very stacked roster.

Much like their European counterpart, Witness Gaming AU have seen waning motivation due in part to their sheer dominance of the region. With ten season wins, three domestic LAN trophies, and a 100% winrate in grand finals, Witness AU have, for the most part, not been heavily contested in their dominance. Recent up-and-comers Struck Minds have pushed Witness Gaming AU to five maps on two separate occasions, once online in the Season 38 grand final and once in the final of the LAN Downunder 2024; however on both occasions they have come up short and failed to topple the giants. Witness AU’s dominant win against Struck Minds in the Season 41 grand final just two weeks ago made a statement that they are still the best team in the region, bar none.

With their sights set on intercontinental glory, Witness Gaming AU should not be underestimated. With a region’s hopes on their shoulders, they’ll be looking to break the fourth place curse that has afflicted Team Immunity and Jasmine Tea alike. Can they set themselves apart from the rest as the best team that Oceania has ever seen? We’ll find out in Denver.

Witness Gaming AU contributed by catfish

Prize Pool

Based on projected signups, there is a base prize pool of $2,500 for the event. The prize pool can be increased via crowdfunding, which you can donate to here. Item donations will also open via Mannco.store at a later date. Donations of either type will contribute to the prize pool but also to costs of running the event.

The prize distribution for the event is as follows:

• 1st: 45%
• 2nd: 25%
• 3rd: 15%
• 4th: 8%
• 5-6th: 3.5%
• 5-6th: 3.5%

We spoke with Fireside Casts’ founder and project lead, antlers, regarding the event:

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: Fireside Casts has become the de facto broadcast organization in North America over the last several years. What prompted the pivot to organizing a LAN tournament start-to-finish?

A lot of what we do at Fireside comes from work that we do for other organizations, and we got a taste of TOing our own competitions more recently. That, along with the drive to see out a competition with every region in attendance, is what prompted us to start organizing this event. Also I want my first LAN in attendance to be a cool one.

Fireside Lead and Merch Sellout siyo had this to say:

Very excited about this LAN. We have been saving up all the funds that we have garnered from subscriptions and memberships to the Fireside platform all for this event. The community has truly made the saying, "by the community, for the community," come to life in Physgun Fireside Denver 2025. I hope that we can put out an event that you can enjoy, whether it be as a player, in-person spectator, or viewing from home.