Here we are again! April is the start of a fresh season of European LANs, and before huhy's infoshow LAN, there's Futurolan's Gamers Assembly, from April 3rd to 5th!
This is literally the biggest meeting of videogame nerds in France. For TF2 that means 10 teams, 4,200€ of cashprize, ilosu's admin talents and despite some Europeans faking their venue to the tournament, lots of high-level and exciting matches that could escalate on Sunday April 5th at 21:00 CET in the best finals for years.
The good teams
Awsomniac
*DiabalXen* | *Exon* | *Captainhax* | *T-Mac* | *fl1p* | *tek* |
Well, at this point, I believe everyone knows them. The French team par excellence, competing in premiership for eons, Awsomniac (former L'Avant-Garde de Plouvorn), has won so many French LANs that even they lost count. But this time there are some changes in the lineup. Flippy & Bulle won't attend and be replaced by Captainhax and former Gunslingers medic DiabalXen. Will Captainhax remember how to shoot rockets? Will tek run heavy to mid? Will Exon sell his loot before winning it? Find out soon!
Twiggy's rating of quality : 9/10 because they didn't reach ETF2L playoffs.
E-SHOCK ESPORT
*Izzy* | *Hidan* | *baud* | *DeGuN* | *NiCO* | *droso* |
Second best French team around for quite some time, they haven't stopped training and improving, meaning they and Awsomniac are neck and neck, only being 1 place apart in the premiership table! And anyone who watched their match will tell you it was by no means an easy ride for Aws. This could prefigure interesting confrontations and (hopefully) good finals.
I've had the occasion of exchanging some words with the Belgian star of the team, baud :
Q : This is going to be your second LAN ever. Are you as excited as you were before your first one?
A : Oh yes, I'm really eager to prove again that I don't cheat since ETF2L banned me just after GA'lloween 2014!
Q : Do you think your team has what it takes to finally beat Awsomniac?
A : They won't run their standard lineup with Bulle & Flippy so I think it is possible to take maps from them, or even beat them in the end. However they have Captainhax that brings them a solid leadership to compensate for the merc.
Q : Some may ask why you are allowed to play at LAN even though you got banned recently. What do you have to say about that?
A : To me it's the only way I have to prove myself as a player. Furthermore what do I have to gain from cheating in TF2? It's not like we had Counter Strike like cashprices...
Twiggy's rating of quality : 8/10, would have been 9/10 if they were compliant to AC rules and without droso.
The slightly less good teams
Imaginary Gaming
*Looping* | *Kouna* | *4star* | *Robinet* | *Glastry* | *Tutuz* |
A solid high team with good enough players find themselves reinforced with professional plumber Kouna. I have the conviction they could get involved in some of the most exciting fixtures that will be played over the weekend. That is not because of their qualities as good gamers, but because the tournament is very stacked at this level...
Twiggy's rating of quality : 7/10
Pedro Multigaming
*Sanz* | *BOOM* | *Leyo* | *Zelkhar* | *Lithium* | *Kyubz* |
As a freshly formed squad for season 20 these guys surely had a very good run going. In fact their performance was on par if not better than the more experienced rosters of Imaginary Gaming and top5 rocket. For this LAN though their lineup will be slightly modified with sticky spammer extraordinaire BOOM, E-SHOCK 7th wheel Lithium, scout user Kyubz and Leyo going from black scottish cyclops to white freedom fighter.
Twiggy's rating of quality : 7/10
Tous derrière Schmurf
*Jipse* | *Schmurf* | *gf18* | *Azunis* | *Keyro* | *Red* |
Of all the attendants these guys are my favorite. Their combo of Jipse, Schmurf and gf18 is totally worth the ones of Awsomniac and E-SHOCK in my opinion. Unfortunately their flank is relatively weak in comparison, and could cause them some trouble against the other good teams.
Twiggy's rating of quality : 7.5/10 because I like Jipse
top5_rocket
*Ombrack* | *Blitzo* | *Medico* | *Neo* | *Opti* | *Superkopo* |
What would once have been the up & coming talents of the French scene had a relatively bad season considering the raw talent of their players and the amount of time they spend playing together. If only they stopped mixing and thinking about new nicknames each game and instead focus on improving their play they could be prem material in no time! Watch out for outstanding plays from Opti & Blitzo, and outstanding drops from Ombrack!
Twiggy's rating of quality : 7/10
The not so good teams
dizLown
*Fmapkmn* | *Light* | *John* | *Drake* | *Dyde* | *Speedead* |
I have very little knowledge of the abilities of this team BUT they have the totally crazy TF2Connexion Public Relations Head Admin Fmapkmn, so they must obviously be very good. I've also heard that John redefines what roamer jumps look like and that Dyde can actually hit some stuff as scout...
Twiggy's rating of quality : 4/10
Worthless Respect
*Monky* | *Zikto* | *Corbac* | *Lapino* | *Zero* | *Begorenow* |
A solid mid tier team that has actually performed very well at their last LAN appearance during GA'lloween 2014. Following this good performance they put up a reasonable but not outstanding fight during season 20. They might lack some steam during this event as they did during the regular season but who knows if they can apply themselves again in the offline environment...
Twiggy's rating of quality : 6/10
K-BINET eSports
*FapFap* | *Neoxyde* | *Weak* | *Salade au Thon* | *Olgha* | *Usagi* |
Literally the worst but also the nicest.
Twiggy's rating of quality : 2/10, sorry guys
Le Brocante Game
*Gero* | *Enjoyed* | *Jabba* | *Kinty* | *Ego* | *Lake* |
Also known as the rejected players of top5_rocket's main lineup, I've heard these guys could use an interesting way to determine their classes but they will unfortunately lack the taunting combo of *Erode* and *Mooshi* to carry them...
Twiggy's rating of quality : 6/10
To follow this incredible event played on an incredible game, tune in to TeamFortressTV from Saturday 13:15 CET onwards, you might even hear some proper English(or Irish) during the weekend...