Did they extend the registration?

yes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOr0na6mKJQ

Plat raising the stakes.

y'all is straight up sorta homies yo word

Thanks Platinum and <:E, but is this really the way to save the league? who the heck would finish top two of open without invites and wasn't planning to play otherwise? What if you're just drawing players out of other divisions, where a lot of teams still need to pay?

I think more teams would be persuaded by a direct mentor arrangement from you guys and whoever else wants to. Working with experienced players would seriously change my expectations of ESEA-O (which currently involve losing money and getting frustrated)

However you want to go about this, you guys are putting your money where your mouth is and that's more than I've come to expect of this community.

Save the league? I want to see open players with some drive to win reminiscent of when I used to play in open/cevo-a. There's a reason the ex-invite sandbaggers are where they are, they are easily beatable and maybe this will kickstart some drive for newer players to try and win. Plus I want to try and give back a little to the open players who have been "funding lan", which is really the only reason my team plays.

Fucking hate invite sandbaggers. Depending on if I take a vacation or not I'll throw down some money too.

i will give 8 hats to somebody who finishes in the top 14 with 2 or fewer IM level players

do u see how much lamer that fuckin sounds

go big or go home

Hey, fuck you plat i can't help that i'm terrible.

Good on you, plat.

I don't know how many times I have to say this, but I <3 you, Platinum. Your attitude towards playing the game is one of the reasons why I started following competitive tf2 in the first place.

We can talk about a statute of limitations old man

for money? superb attitude

if you're going into anything competitive and expecting to be smashed, you're doing it wrong. you go in expecting to win, and you try as hard as you can to make it happen instead of going "eh just gonna lose anyway fuck this" when you expect to win, it makes you incredibly more likely to win.

I'll take your money plat

C u in open 8)

Are you implying that the top tf2 players make tons of money? But honestly, money is quite often a strong driving factor behind why many people do what they do. I'm a netsec engineer because not only do I absolutely love it, but it also provides me with what I feel is a comfortable living for my age. I'd hate to be wrong, but it doesn't seem to me as if Platinum has been playing tf2 for as long as he has, at the level he does for money alone.

for competition maybe?

plat = Dabes :)

wait but dabes = moose..???

point is that plat is a good dude with good intentions that's why I have always liked him, if My wife didn't have a baby on the way I would put in my share, maybe for s17

You do realize that the winnings of ESEA LAN pretty much cover the cost of the trip/stay right? 3/4th place players that travel any significant distance will lose money unless the community helps fund them.

As long as I've known plat, he's one of the few players that truly has a passion for competition. Even back to when we were on a team together climbing our way up the ranks, he had more drive than anyone i played with. People can either love/hate his attitude, but he has always stayed true to what he stands by and never changes his tone. I think him offering money out of his own pocket as incentive to help keep competitive TF2 alive is an admirable thing to do.

The real prize is playing with your friends/team

except as the season goes on and you become more competitive, your friends become "busy" and have to leave the team, or their computer "breaks" and can no longer play.

Yeah I can't like/upfrag/compliment enough. This past couple weeks, there has been a sense of hostility between low-level players and top-level players.

HUGE props to Plat and squid for breaking down the wall a bit and encouraging friendly competition.

mike is just being a jackass...

Stupidest comment ive seen in a long time

!whattimeisit

banhammertime

i'll do some team mentoring for teams that get 6 players paid up, not sure how many i'll be able to do but toss me an invite and we can discuss things.

;-;

I'll match Plat/squid's offers as well. Let's esports, you guys.

That's $360 extra to a top 2 finisher with no sandbagging. Open's gonna have a bigger prize pool than IM/Main at this rate ;P

Can we get moved down to open? :p