Hello TeamFortressTV, I'm Doug, and I'll be writing articles about the Elite division in the Brazilian League of Team Fortress 2 (LBTF2). LBTF2 S9 has 40 teams with players from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Those teams are arranged into 4 divisions: Elite, Central, Acesso (Access), and Aberta (Open), with 8 teams each (except for Open which has 16 teams this season) and those teams play a 7 week regular season with 1 match per week - and 2 maps for each match - to see which are the 4 teams that make playoffs (8 teams in the case of Open). The map list and items whitelist are similar to the North-American leagues, but the format of the match resembles that of ETF2L's; the first team to have more points in 30 minutes or goes up a difference of 5 points win the map.
As I said before, I'll be writing articles about the Elite division, and there is no better way to start those articles with an introduction of each team.
The 8 selected teams to play in Elite are known teams that are coming back after skipping the last tournament (the one-month FBTF Cup #2) and teams that survived said cup. So, let's get to them. By the way, this isn't a power ranking, the teams are in alphabetical order.
Casarão (CSR)
Roster: doug, New BreeD, Basher, dunha, tt, Nuffle, Haoz, Andre, Wolf, Biasz
CSR placed 4th in the FBTF Cup #2, being named First e-Sports at that time due to a sponsorship. The team is coming back with a completely different roster, keeping only doug, tt, Nuffle, and Andre from the old line-up. Casarão will mark some interesting returns and changes. Nuffle, who was once known as one of the best medics in South America, will go back to being the healing dude, after playing scout for the last two years. New BreeD is coming back to the game after two years of retirement, and he will be playing scout after years of playing soldier. Dunha was part of the team that won the first season of LBTF2 in 2009, and he is back after some seasons off. CSR will also have Haoz, Basher, Wolf and Biasz on the roster. The starting line-up is still up in the air, but the team has some interesting pieces to move around.
"Doug, I trust that you will have an excellent opinion" - New BreeD
Ok, New BreeD. When I'm quoting myself I don't have to use quotation marks, right? Despite the lack of seriousness of some teams, taking the tournament more in a "fun" approach, I believe this LBTF2 will be different from the last two seasons in terms of Elite teams dying mid season (for example, in the last season, the Main Division had 14 teams, 5 of which died). Now about the competitiveness in the division, I believe the first 3 places are already set, but 4th place is still up in the air, similar to what has been happening in the North American scene. As for Casarão, at first we didn't even think about playing in Elite, but the team is improving and the roster works well together. New BreeD is working hard to switch his main to scout and everyone is animated during scrims. I believe the team is going to overcome my own expectations.
Coringa & Planeta (c&p)
Roster: crg, Sinval, Robb, Ninjax, tln, omgzor, little jow, Jubileu, liko, Unlead
Second place in the FBTF Cup #2, c&p is coming with the additions of liko, Unlead (who won the Best Pocket award in the Cup), and Jubileu, also with the return of Robb to the roster. From the scrims I've been following, they aren't playing as well as I thought they would, but knowing their dedication to the game, I believe things are going to change when the season kicks in.
"Well, in Open I have no idea about who can win it, there are too many new names, some I actually know, the other divisions below Elite look like really balanced too, I don't know if ADP is playing in Central, but if they do, I believe they will be the strongest team in theory, there are too many experienced players and most of them with a good DM, highlighting dragon and blackzor... Now about the Elite, I don't see much difference, only eG that is coming with a DM relatively strong, mainly if Sony plays for them.. What I expect from c&p, is that we manage to straighten up the lineup, and scrim at least 2 or 3 times a week, because in the cup we didn't even do that (blame dota 2), if we manage regular and of good quality scrims we can face 7w at the same level." - Omgzor
Evolution Gaming (eG)
Roster: Dozen, nosf, dem0, fzin, pfzin, gust, fast, raduKz, skate, less
One of the teams coming back after skipping the last tournaments, eG is made by the return of Dozen, raduKz and less and by the addition of dem0, fzin, pfzin, skate, nosf and gust, who played for different teams in the last Cup. Noted by the leadership of Dozen, the team has been scrimming a lot, looking to displace 7w (below). Keeping this rhythm, I believe they might grow a lot in the tournament and will probably fight for the title with k6 and 7w.
"The 9th season of LBTF can be as a failure as it can be a lot of fun and competitive, it might be a failure if the competitiveness stay between only two teams or, who knows, not even any kind of competitiveness, with one team too much better than the rest, not giving any chance for a second team to fight for the title. Evolution Gaming has as goal in this season to get to the finals, getting the title of the hands of powah and SevenWars will be a consequence, but before we think about that, we need to fix the present, right now the Evolution is having serious problems with the lineup and scrim schedule, we won't be able to improve our teamplay (like 7w had years to do it) of this new lineup that I built and it's hard to recover the skill that we retired players (me and dem0, for example) had, if I had to bet, I believe we will keep not scrimming as we should and Evolution Gaming will have a mediocre performance, probably getting the second or third place." - Dozen
Koala 6 (k6)
Roster: Wade, Dynamite, Fede, IS NOT POSSIBLE, JavoO, Phantom, Venom, Mickie
The hermanos are back. Venom and friends are back together and if they keep playing at the same level they were at when they quit, they will be up there in the brackets. Known for the really strong scout duo with Venom and JavoO, k6 has became a traditional team in our scene and it's really good to see them again. Besides the scout duo, the Argentineans are known for their great chemistry, built due to being together for so many years and for the great stability of the roster
"I hope for a competitive Elite. About k6 participation I don't expect much. We haven't been scrimming a lot and we don't have the same urge to win that we had in past leagues. Our goal of this LBTF is to have fun." - Venom
Seven Wars e-Sports - MONSTER (7w)
Roster: prod, Tyger, Majesty, dede, eiz0, powah, wings, ole, roft, titooh
Keeping their roster untouched and now sponsored, the undefeated team from FBTF Cup #2 comes once again as the favorite to win the title. Having the arguably best teamwork due to all the years they have been playing together, 7w proved that they also had the best individual talents during the Cup, getting 6 of the 7 awards in main roles in the The Best of the Cup polls. Seven Wars continues to avoid many scrims, but there are no doubts that they are still one step ahead of the competition, which can change during the tournament with the dedication that Evolution Gaming has.
"This LBTF will have for the first time the awards in medals, it will start what can make TF2 grow a little more. Everyone knows that the biggest part of TF2 players (I'm talking about players in general, not only in the competitive scene) play the game for the "hats", the coming of the medals will expand the possibility of growing of the scene. On another side, this LBTF will be one of the weakest in terms of "Elite", we have few teams that are scrimming and few experienced players as in the past. As for the 7w's participation, we will try to play how we always did, with a solid base with few alterations in the line up." - Tyger
Squishers e-Sports (SqS)
Roster: Ruddah, Ghost, Assombrado, Pena, Caloi, Sonikro, dreamxx, O_o, hii, metra
The oldest active team in Brazilian TF2, Squishers is playing once again in the LBTF2. Coming with big changes on the lineup that played the Cup, SqS has added many new members to its roster: Pena, Caloi, Sonikro, dreamxx, hii, and metra. The starting lineup is really strong on the paper, but it might be harmed by the schedule of some players. Expect a great use of offclasses by Ghost and Sonikro, also, excellent snipers in dreamxx, and hii.
"I believe most of the games will be close, and eG and MONSTER will be the favorites with no doubt. I don't know about the other divisions and I know if it depends on the admins it will be one of the LBTFs with most statistics and coverage that has happened!! Unfortunately Gravelpit is not on the maplist, it's a great map." - Ruddah
Time do Hymura (d6)
Roster: Hymura, jota, panic, inkyo, Malack, brutus, Leo', Volnutt, Makemind
Team that is mainly known as w2r (no matter the name you guys register, you will keep being w2r), they are coming with some alterations in this tournament. The addition of brutus and Malack and the return of Volnutt will give new looks to the team that has, in most part, been together since the last LBTF2 (which happened 9 months ago). Leo' and Makemind are also fresh meat on the roster and they will be there when the team needs them.
"It will be a league with a lot of news for what I saw. There are too many teams, which is cool, with a lot of new players and some known ones that got together. It will be a different league due to the work the staff has been doing. Our roster had some losses which caused our level to decline a little bit. But we are training to fix and improve that. Elite will be hard. It's important to note that hymura is back, inkyo is playing sober now and panic needs to become a legend again." - jota
United Six (u6)
Roster: Fizzon, dudu, orus, sh1p, guidaw, Killuminati, kuroky, beybey, ricci, fumassa
An oldschool team that came back with a worse than expected performance in Copa FBTF #2 (finishing 0-3 in the group phase), u6 is coming back with a lineup completely different of the one that played in the Cup, adding beybey, kuroky, dudu and orus, the team will have a strong combo and a flank that is not weak as well. United Six also added fumassa, but I don't believe he is actually active. Stability may be an issue for u6. Teams made up of players coming from "retirement" tend to not take the league as seriously as the more active teams. Let's see if they will surprise me in this aspect.
"I believe this LBTF will have a close contest between few teams in terms of Elite, because I still keep my opinion that there are two teams playing in another level of the rest of the community, unfortunately. u6 will play only for the nostalgia, we can't dedicate a lot to the game because everyone works and studies, but we won't make it easier for the other teams and, who knows, we can go for a goal in this edition, but without any obsession." - Fizzon
This was the first article (of many!) about the upcoming LBTF2 season, that kicks in on February 23rd.