RGL Season 17 began last week, and with it, a nine-team Invite division. Read on to learn about the Invite rosters this season.

Florida Man Ethnostate

• Pocket Scout: maze
• Flank Scout: J_peg
• Roamer: GMK
• Pocket: reero
• Demoman: Dogdayboy
• Medic: tacocat

Florida Man Ethnostate is primarily made up of RGL Season 16 Advanced champions Mar-a-Lago Philes, with a few newcomers to Invite joining the established 4-player core of Flank Scout J_peg, Roamer GMK, Demoman Dogdayboy, and Medic tacocat. maze and reero complete the team on Pocket Scout and Pocket respectively. maze played his last full season of Invite with dynasty in Season 10, and reero will make his full-time debut after a brief tenure on Demoman in Advanced for _Fjord Gaming_.

Pocket reero spoke to us about the team’s goals for the season:

I think our goal as a team for the season is to get as many wins as possible and to improve. I think we are getting better every week which is good. We understand that this is probably the most competitive season of invite in a very long time, but we are confident we can get some wins and maybe even an upset or two.

GlobalClan

• Pocket Scout: Scratchh
• Flank Scout: darty
• Roamer: Grape Juice
• Pocket: Alexandros
• Demoman: peniferous
• Medic: dinko

The GlobalClan franchise maintains two of its six players from Season 16, bringing aboard three fresh faces including former GC teammate Grape Juice. Pocket Scout Scratchh, and Demoman peniferous remain from GlobalClan’s fifth place finish in Season 16, and Roamer Grape Juice returns to the team after playing with them in Season 15 as GlobalClan Ice, where they also finished fifth as best of the rest. This trio is well-acquainted at this point, so fans can expect some great coordination between them.

darty joins Grape Juice on the flank as Scout following a fourth place finish last season with black swan. Alexandros moves from Roamer to Pocket, coming off a sixth place finish with ROME in Season 14. dinko starts for the team full-time after playing a few matches with the team in Season 16.

Team leader Scratchh had this to say:

My personal goal as always is to have fun and enjoy the game with my friends, but as a whole, our teams goal is playoffs of course. This is going to be my 3rd season with Grape, and 4th with Peniferous. So, im confident after a few weeks we will be playing at a solid enough level with good coordination, able to contest the other top teams playing this season. Our team as a whole is enjoyable to play with and we try to keep the vibes fun while also emphasizing reviews and practice when able. We are also grateful to be playing under the GlobalClan moniker again as Moixxoi has been a wonderful sponsor to work with.

FranzJ presents

• Pocket Scout: exile
• Flank Scout: yumyum
• Roamer: Zam
• Pocket: donovin
• Demoman: sam
• Medic: LOLGUY

FranzJ presents is a newly formed team that features a concoction of playoff proven players. The team features exile on Pocket Scout, fresh off a fourth place finish last season with black swan. yumyum joins exile on Scout, returning to Invite following a season break after his fifth place finish in Season 15 with GCI.

Zam returns as Roamer after a multi-season hiatus. He last played in Seasons 12 and 13 with back-to-back bronze finishes. Similarly Pocket donovin joins the team after a hiatus of his own, after playing four seasons with froyotech from Seasons 10-13, taking two wins, one second place finish, and one third place finish during that time. Continuing the trend of explosive classes returning to Invite is sam, who joins the team on Demoman, having last played in Season 11 with third place finisher The Covenant. Lastly Medic LOLGUY joins the team after an Invite championship in Season 15 with Like A G6.

Pocket Scout exile explained the mindset of the team going into the season:

The goal of this roster was to form a team with some friends that we haven't gotten the chance to play with before. It's hard to find the time to compete in a season with friends that you've known for a long time with the goal of doing well, so this season felt like the best time to do it. Personally, I haven't played with a few people on the team in many years, and some I've never played on a team with ever, so this is exciting for me personally.

The Cell

• Pocket Scout: raven
• Flank Scout: soar
• Roamer: greg
• Pocket: highfive
• Demoman: dingo
• Medic: jay

The Cell is comprised of a mixture of veteran and up-and-coming talent. The team features the scout duo of raven, who finished third last season with The Chuds, and soar, who was a finalist with The Wall. Rounding out the young talent is greg, who will be playing his first season of Invite after finishing second in Season 15 Advanced with SuperXiaoXiao Bomb.

highfive kicks off the list of veterans on the team, taking up the role of Pocket Soldier despite being known mainly for his scout gameplay. Demoman dingo picks up the sticky launcher once again, last playing the class in Season 12 with The Covenant; most recently, he played Roamer last season for The Wall, making it to the grand final. jay rounds out the roster on Medic after his own hiatus, last playing in Season 13 with froyotech where he famously destroyed teams with the market gardener.

Team leader highfive summarized the team’s identity for our audience:

Me and fellow boomer junifromspkids have gathered our favorite promising zoomers to try and beat everyone's ass. Also greg is here.

Greasy Dothogs

• Pocket Scout: shamoo
• Flank Scout: pabwo
• Roamer: loafe
• Pocket: pauldogg
• Demoman: SIN K4RMA
• Medic: Dank

Greasy Dothogs returns for this season. This team has many seasons together under their belt, with nobody on this roster being brand new to the team. This team is more well-known under the Global Clan brand, last playing under the Dothog name in the team’s debut in Season 12. The three-player core of Pocket Scout shamoo, Pocket pauldogg, and Medic Dank have played together for a few seasons at this point, developing strong coordination and teamwork in the combo.

Flank Scout pabwo is here as well – a true champion of the Global Clan organisation, pabwo played the last two seasons with the organisation, playing Season 16 with Scratchh and peniferous, and Season 15 with the GC-named Dothogs team. Enigmatic Demoman SIN K4RMA returns to the team following a grand final appearance with The Wall last season. SIN K4RMA was part of the original Dothogs team in Season 12 and played with the team at RESUP Philadelphia 2023 and the RGL Season 15 regular season. loafe reprises his role on Roamer after a bronze finish with The Chuds last season.

Pocket Scout shamoo had an important message to share with the fans of tf.tv:

Potential for this season is very high. Outside of season 15,this is going to be the most stacked season that I've played in a long time. Our team's goal is, as usual, first place. There's some stiff competition for it, but we feel we have what it takes. Increasing the stakes, this season precedes the Denver LAN which makes us hungry to prove we deserve the invite. Should be a great time.

also i think someone did this bit before with spelling out pootis?? but i kinda got too far in before remembering, sunk cost fallacy.

Like A G6

• Pocket Scout: chris
• Flank Scout: bomo
• Roamer: SOOOOOAPYMEiSTER
• Pocket: kobe1920
• Demoman: logan
• Medic: hhhwrd

One of RGL’s greatest dynasties, Like A G6 returns this season. Despite being registered to compete last season, the team disbanded early on, making their championship run in Season 15 their last appearance. Prior to that, the team last played Season 11 in which they took home first, so while G6 has not been ever-present, the team has shown up every season they’ve played, winning on their last three appearances in RGL.

Roster-wise, the team is home to the core we’ve come to know and love – chris and bomo the Scout duo, kobe1920 and SOOOOOAPYMEiSTER on Soldier, and logan on Demoman. These five have been the bread and butter of G6, and it’s no surprise they’ve experienced so much success when their roster has been so consistent. The only difference this season is on Medic, where instead of the normally seen LOLGUY, the team is bringing in hhhwrd, who was a member of the original G6 lineup in Seasons 7 and 8.

Flank Scout bomo gave fans a sneak peek into the near future of Like A G6:

As is, the plan is to play through Denver LAN at minimum. We're playing with Howard this season and then at Denver we'll be reuniting with lolguy. Coming into this year, we are definitely trying to give ourselves time to focus on improving, as not only are we still feeling quite a bit rusty at the moment, we also know being the best is less of an endpoint and more of a way of life.

jiminy

• Pocket Scout: sigh
• Flank Scout: blank
• Roamer: yight
• Pocket: gungon
• Demoman: artist
• Medic: Divine

jiminy is filled with a ton of established Invite performers although with some offbeat class choices. Beginning the offclassing is sigh begins the list of offclassing veterans; while known for his shotgun Pocket and Demoman, he joins the team on Pocket Scout, his first showing on the role in a season of Invite. Next is the Soldier duo of yight and gungon, playing Roamer and Pocket respectively. Though known for playing any class well, this is yight’s first season on Soldier, having played the vast majority of his career on Flank Scout, with brief stints of Demo added into the mix. It’s a similar story for gungon; known for both Scout roles, this will be his first season of Invite on Soldier.

The offclassing spell is broken with artist, who joins the team on Demoman. The only rookie champion last played in Season 15, finishing third with Witness Gaming, the organisation he’s spent six of his seven seasons in Invite with. Medic Divine joins the team in search of his first podium, finishing fourth in Seasons 13 and 14 on Medic and Scout respectively. Last but not least is Invite debutant blank, in search of the glory he’s seen in Highlander where he’s taken four championships.

Pocket gungon explained the philosophy of the team going into the season:

This team was masterfully engineered by yight to include 6 chill good dm players. We’re all looking to improve, hit some clips, and maybe get some upset wins. Every night will be Cinema.

poop gaming

• Pocket Scout: namey
• Flank Scout: Rekuso
• Roamer: umlpst
• Pocket: Walrex
• Demoman: MiG-21bis
• Medic: foxxy

poop gaming, like The Cell, has a combination of young and established talent. Flank Scout Rekuso is the most veteran of the bunch, continuing on the role he made the grand final on during a stint with Greasy Dothogs in Season 12. Roamer umlpst is fresh off a fifth place finish last season with GlobalClan; on the other side of it, Walrex joins him on Soldier after a break, last playing Invite in Season 11 alongside Rekuso on 3D3M.

Team Demoman MiG-21bis has been dedicated to the Invite grind the last few seasons. MiG spent three seasons with ROME from Seasons 12 to 14 and two with Anglerfish in Seasons 15 and 16. Coming off a fourth place debut season in 6v6 Invite, foxxy carries a plethora of experience in Highlander Invite and will hope to build on a great rookie season in 6v6. Finally we have Pocket Scout namey, a newcomer to RGL Invite and the top of North America. Before namey’s relatively recent move to North America, he established himself in ozfortress, most recently finishing third in ozfortress Season 31.

The team’s manager reece said this of the team:

i am proud of poop gaming. i wish i was better at tf2 so i can play with the poop gaming clan and yell at umlpst. i am not friends with him as i do not like him. its all love! poop gaming forever

froyotech

• Pocket Scout: b4nny
• Flank Scout: branslam
• Roamer: laz
• Pocket: paddie
• Demoman: habib
• Medic: hubida

Last but certainly not least, Invite dynasty froyotech is entering the season with a roster composed of a lot of the same players from last season, though with some role swaps. With the departure of logan, branslam is moving from Pocket Scout to Flank, and team leader b4nny is picking up the scattergun once again after a season on Demoman.

habib rejoins the team to fill the void on Demo after a short break during Season 16. Returning on Roamer is laz along with his Pocket partner paddie, and lastly hubida rounds out the roster on Medic.

b4nny, the leader of froyotech, spoke to us about the vibes going into the season, as well as the future:

We’re happy to be going into next season with minimal changes from last season’s winning roster. I’d even expect the role swaps we’re making will make us even stronger. Our goal this season is to build as much team chemistry as possible before the LANs arrive. Everyone on the team is feeling reinvigorated and hungrier for the win now than they’ve been in a while.

There you have it -- the teams competing in RGL this season. Tune into RGL and Fireside Casts to watch the teams compete for the championship!