England, settle down. Do you hear that? There's something strange on the wind—it's—why it's simply majestic—like the disembodied roar of ten thousand soaring eagles, or the unified howl of voices chanting in the distance. What's that they're saying? Sounds an awful lot like, "U-S-A! U-S-A!" Can you hear it? It's the sound of fireworks, credit-cards, and poor dietary choices. The sound of Bruce Willis, Abraham Lincoln, and Yosemite. It's the sound of 8 screaming tons of American hype-train rolling down the tracks yelling, "Yippee Ki yay . . ." and it's headed straight for you.
Thing is, we feel sort of bad about that whole "tea in the harbor" thing. Our bad. It's only proper manners we pay you back. Jokes on you though, Americans don't have manners. We're shipping freedom and exporting pain. Twelve of our very best North American freedom-fighters are doing work over in the UK. Their mission was simple—liberty. Don't call it an invasion, don't call it a comeback. Call it a return. And right now, both NA teams are poised to make it back to the main stage. Hide your trophies and prepare to be liberated of all that burdensome prize money, Europe. The eagles have landed. I repeat. The Eagles. Have. Landed.
Mixup
Or maybe it's the seagulls?
As the left hand of American justice ready to serve up a cold dish of democratic demolition, Mixup was team bred for the singular purpose to dominate all others. In their 2nd international LAN appearance since taking the gold at i46, Mixup returned with a rebuffed roster no stranger to taking home championship titles. The Seagull and Squidder infused lineup claimed victory during the ESEA season 15 LAN playoff, and upon reforming late in season 16, took the first ever TFTV Invitational powered by Twitch. The Enigma, Platinum, Harbleu, TLR core are the only Americans ever to win an I-series LAN event, and it looks like that level of pedigree does not go down without a fight. Certainly it doesn't fly all the way to Europe just to lose.
In case you missed it, you commie bastard, Mixup is one step closer to climbing out of the lower bracket after defeating the Australian super team in one of the most insane TF2 games you will ever see. When you get a chance, you should go watch the VOD, but to wet your whistle . . . in a golden cap situation Harbleu—medical man for team Mixup— with just 28 hit-points ubersawed and killed both of team iM's scouts securing the final cap and match for his team. i52, ima let you finish, but Harbleu had one of the greatest TF2 plays of ALL TIME.
Sadly this sent the mighty Australians packing, and Mixup to the Consolation Final bo3, where the grand final opponents are about to be determined.
Froyotech
Meanwhile the 4G heroes of the west keep trucking along while hardly missing a beat. The b4nny, clockwork, super scout combo are fresh off yet another ESEA-I championship having won Season 16 without breaking a sweat. They had to say goodbye to the golden boy of gaming Tim "Dummy" Olson, who passed into retirement after finally grabbing his 1st ESEA championship, but the tears were short lived, having picked up a more consistent/more b4nny like demoman—duwatna. Scarily, the team has never played better. After dropping to both Epsilon and iM in the Invite bracket, 4G would go on to rematch and defeat iM. This set them against the insane Euro's, Epsilon, in the Upper Bracket Final. Once again the Shade/Lansky/Blaze combo powered by b4nny and clockwork, now infused with Duwatna, was too strong to be stopped, and 4G bested the Euro's in the first 2 maps.
4G now awaits either their NA brethren Mixup in the Grand Finals, or their arch enemies Epsilon for what will be both a tournament and an International best out of 3.
So yes, Europe, the eagles have come, and much like that nasty business way back in Normandy, or that awkward time Gandalf got stuck in a tree, we have some unfinished business to take care of. We struck the first blow in i46. Europe came back swinging and won i49. Who will win i52? It's an international showdown, and it's happening right now!
Break out the American flags, put a hand to your hearts and sing out "O'Canada." All aboard the hype-train, North America. Next stop—The Grand Final.
Update: Wake up, new worlders, the American Dream is real!
Break out the sparklers and let freedom ring. As of 7am EST, 4G/Froyotech are TF2 world champions! With Mixup losing to Epsilon late on Saturday night, the b4nny, Clockwork, Blaze, Lansky, Shade, Duwatna crew were the last hope for freedom over on the European coast. Sitting comfortably in the winners bracket villa, 4G awoke early Sunday morning prepared to execute operation "Shock and Awesome." The carnage was uncanny. The hype-train turned into a steamroll. The final NA team was too much for Europe's finest to best, and after losing to Froyotech 1-4 on Process, Epsilon would go on to wash on Gully, 0-5. Well done to all involved, including our fallen brethren, Mixup, who shall be remembered in the songs of bards for ages to come. Once again—4G wins i52. We did it! North America are world champs!
EU: [1]
NA: [2]
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
