Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the largest season of open in almost two years. While summer seasons are almost always larger, it’s still very exciting to see so much fresh blood taking the leap into ESEA. While the division may have a lot of new faces, there are also a bunch of returning names looking to stake their claim on a playoff berth, an IM promotion, or even the open crown. Good luck to everyone, and let’s have a great season. Please stop blaming mana for my screw-up, by the way. I may have had article access the whole time without knowing it.
- Sakura
- Paddie
- Remedy
- Pharoah
- br0nze
- Raymon
The latest team to find themselves in the crosshairs of open players frustrated at ESEA’s placement practices, the reborn 6cuties are far and away the favorites going into season 19 of open. While they may not stick with their presumed invite roster (which is what I have listed here), even offclassing these players have the experience and fragging ability to perch comfortably at the top of open all season. Undoubtedly, we’ve all heard of Pharaoh (51 invite matches), remedy (15 invite matches), Sakura (26 invite matches), br0nze (30 invite matches), and Paddie (30 invite matches). Even those who don’t follow EU TF2 have also likely heard of Raymon, who has been a top-tier European player for years. Indeed, any member of this team likely has about as much high-level TF2 experience as many other open teams have combined.
Does this make 6cuties unbeatable this season? Honestly, that’s up to them. If Pharaoh and crew approach the season with even mild amounts of motivation to practice, I don’t see them losing a map during the regular season. Their schedule for the first four weeks doesn’t offer many challenges. In week 1 they will face Guitar Heroes, a team I think will be a major player in the playoff bubble by season’s end, and in week 3 they will see xfinity weight loss, a team of pugstars who fit comfortably in my top 10. If 6cuties offclass and take the season as a joke, I can see them dropping rounds or even a game to xfinity, as well as a number of other teams in the division.
- matt
- Senor Alberto
- Draco Meteor
- sigh
- alder
- bowswer5
Perhaps a controversial team to have this high, slowbr0 is made up of some intensely talented DMers who have been on the rise all offseason. The combo of Senor Alberto and matt offer a solid rock for the team to base their play off of, and Draco Meteor/froot/zekkyuu is a pretty good roamer who doesn’t actually feed non-stop like so many open roamers, but the real stars of the team are alder and bowswer5 on scout and sigh on demo. Alder is a very good CPMA player who has been banging around the mid open ranks as a ringer and pugstar for a couple seasons now and seems to have been able to make his gamesense link up with his good aim. Bowswer has a history in highlander as a sniper main and his transition to 6s has been fairly successful, making playoffs in season 17 with the original Guado Glories/I am not Billuster lineup. Sigh on demo is a name that you may not have heard unless you’re a big MGE fan, but his DM on demo is nothing short of monumental. While sigh’s positioning is a bit suspect at times, it will not be easily exploited when backed up by the DM of the rest of his team.
The first half schedule for slowbr0 is actually pretty challenging, facing four probable playoff teams. Their first week should go without a hitch though, as they face Identity Crisis and the b4nny Stream Team, neither of whom should take more than a courtesy round from the slowbr0s.
- TechDude
- Hooey
- Eulogy
- Shaye
- Tri
- Messiah
Until 6cuties joined the division, this was the pick of many for the “Free Check” award, given along with the Seanbud/Lange trophy to the team with the most washed up former stars who came back to open to play with their friends. Tri has actually already won this award once, for his contribution to season 16 open champs Arizona Iced Out Boys. In all seriousness, there is a ton of experience on this team. While hooey, eulogy, and techdude perhaps can’t claim invite experience like tri can, they have all been kicking around open and IM for ages. Messiah has also been around the community in some capacity for a while, though he doesn’t have as much league experience as his compatriots. Shaye is the only player on this team that I don’t really know at all. Demo is a tough class to be new at, but tri, eulogy, and hooey should be pumping out plenty of damage on their own without needing to rely on Shaye to soften up targets for them.
Clam Bake could face their first stumbling block very early in the season, going up against Galactic Kids Next Door in week 1. While GKND may not have the 6s experience that Clam Bake does, they are all accomplished Highlander players playing on process, a map that they know well. I’ll be previewing this match in my Matches of the Week, so more on it later. In their other process matchup Clam Bake will see potential bubble team Strafe Power, who I don’t expect to really challenge tri and the boys.
- tetro
- bsc
- ryugawa
- ???
- Vortex
- Marquee
Take 2 on tetro’s bid to get carried out of open seems to be a bit more successful now that he’s realized that picking up terrible medic mains on scout is a bad idea. This roster would have been very strong about 4 seasons ago, and it will be interesting to see if bsc can recapture the old magic that made him a great pocket. Ryugawa and vortex are also players with significant experience who will run all over many less organized open flanks. Tetro and marquee are both dedicated players who are still improving significantly. If they get a demo who plays well without heals behind a pocket, the Sad Men will only need to keep bsc out of the sad zone in order to secure a top playoff spot. I would like to mention that this team is playing with fire, as not only do they have bsc on pocket, but they also have a dangerous number of weeaboos on the roster, so an early demise could definitely be in the cards once the going gets tough.
Week 1 will likely not carry a loss for The Sad Men, as they play Blue Elephant, a solidly mid-open team, and Shredded, who are kicking around in the lower part of the playoff race. If the Sad Men don’t have a demo locked down in the next couple days, Shredded could take some rounds, but I don’t expect an outright loss from The Sad Men.
- Gandalf
- dash
- June
- Zalfy
- April
- reimu
I had a tough time ranking tony jawk. On one hand, they have two of the better players in the division in reimu and zalfy. On the other hand, the rest of their team does not scream “CONTENDER” to me. April has improved on scout, and will have a lot of success if she tanks heals from her medic and doesn’t go on constant flanking missions. Dash is pretty decent at soldier, and should be able to give Gandalf the direction that I don’t believe she has on her own yet. June was kind of a disaster on pocket, and I’m glad to see him back on roamer where he can play at his best.
In week 1, tony jawk will play Tip of the Toucans in what could be a pretty good match. Auzzie, dippidy, and dashner should be just fine on the flank against reimu and june. I see tony jawk taking the match at 5-3 or so. Their second match against THE TERROR OF LOW OPEN will not be as close. With a couple other tough matches in the first half of the season, tony jawk will want to start out strong to avoid having to ride the playoff bubble later on.
- bear
- Ranga
- neon
- STOPERR
- will
- spello
If you play in tf2pug.me, chances are you’ve played with all of the characters on xfinity weight loss before. And characters they are. STOPERR is one of the most strange and outspoken people in the community, never nervous to scream unintelligibly through his mic through 75% of a pug. Bear, will, and neon are also regulars in tf2pug.me, and while they don’t have a ton of league experience, they have all played a lot of 6s in their time. Ranga is the rock of this team on pocket, and hopefully his wealth of experience will help the other players on his team stay in control. Even so, I expect a lot of aggression from this team, and their DM will help them win fights that they shouldn’t even be taking at times. I doubt we’ll see many hour long epics from xfinity weight loss.
In week 1, xfinity weight loss should not see a challenge, from White Washed or from Proteus eSports. On pug favorite process, I think we’ll see a lot of fast bombs and quick pushes from xfinity, and anything short of two 5-0’s would be a bit of a disappointment.
- Pyrokanetis
- Marxist
- Xen
- fredwardo
- capnfapn
- pie_hero
The core of Five Knights has been playing together for a long time, though rarely on teams that finish the season together. All six of these players have been around ESEA at least since season 12, which was all the way back in mid-2012. Fredwardo in particular has had an extremely illustrious career as a backup, missing only 2 seasons since season 5, but never playing for any team for an entire season. Perhaps the biggest name on this roster is Marxist, everyone’s favorite storyteller and TF2 caster. Though transitioning from medic to pocket is less painful than some other changes, Marxist’s ability to DM and keep Pyrokanetis alive will be of paramount importance to the Knights. I expect the flank of this team to be extremely solid. capnfapn and pie_hero, despite having two of the worst (best?) aliases in TF2 are a very good scout pair that play off of each other very well. Xen is a good roamer with IM experience who will create plenty of openings for the combo of Five Knights to play through. The difficulty with this team will be making sure the flank stays on the same page as the combo. Communication and timing will be the important issues on this team, not pure fragging power.
In week 1 I don’t expect Five Knights With Freddy to struggle too much. We Pause for Pizza seems to be a bit outclassed by pie_hero’s crew, and while ESEACantMeltSteelTeams (what a godawful team name) has some solid players, I think the pure DM of the Knight’s flank will carry the day for them.
- ???
- ???
- ???
- ???
- ???
- ???
When I asked scrimshaw what the lineup for john wayne kayc would be, he responded with just “LOL”. After some prodding, he revealed that while he, blew, kayc, sparrow, SS, and omar were playing, they had no idea what classes they’d be on. Here’s the thing: I don’t think it matters. The strength of this team will not be in their DM. It doesn’t matter that much if Blew or scrimshaw or SS is on pocket, or if Omar or sparrow is on scout. What will make this team good is that all 6 of them have been around this game for ages and will not make silly mistakes like most open teams do. If this team manages to work out a roster that best uses the abilities and experience of its players, I could see them jumping a few spots by the end of the season. If they struggle to match players to positions, there could be some rocky roads ahead when the matches get tougher. Speaking of tough matches, john wayne kayc has a good one for their very first match of the season against 2wycked eSports. This match will be my other MOTW, so I’ll look at it more in depth later. Their other match against White Washed should be a pretty easy win.
- tron
- shiki
- displace
- morin
- SmashySmashy
- market
2wycked eSports, formerly morin than meets the eye, has made some decent roster changes to prepare for season 19. Shiki is a good pocket who doesn’t require a constant 300, which will allow morin to get tanked occasionally on demo, and for the true star of the team, Smashy, to get some much needed heals. Rounding out the squad is tron on medic, displace moving from pocket to roamer, a move that I think suits him well, and market on scout. All in all, I think that 2wycked is in good shape to improve on last season’s 11-5 record and make a real splash in playoffs.
In week 1, 2wycked will be playing in one of my Matches of the Week against john wayne kayc, and against Seal Squad 6, who I doubt will put up much of a fight. This is an important week for 2wycked, as a 2-0 week could be the springboard to a flawless first half that will take a lot of the pressure off when the playoff race heats up.
- Biga
- Tambo
- Randal
- alec
- tatuwah
- jermang
I was ambivalent on this team until their recent pickup of the littlest of the Daddies, alec. While the former invite scout will be taking the reins at demo for Shds, there is little question that his DM ability is still quite good and his experience will do wonders for the otherwise inexperienced team around him. Tatuwah and Jermang (aliased as zheep) are on the scouts, and both are strong players with tatuwah in particular having very good DM, proving himself the carry of Victorious Secret, his team from last season. I’m a little less sure about the soldiers of TragicServers. I have not played with or against Randal (roamer) or Tambo (pocket), but both are putting up decent numbers in scrims. Randal seems to die a bit more than is necessary, but I won’t put up a real judgement until I’ve seen him play. Biga is a medic who was godawful for a very long time, but he seems to have committed to improving and if he can spread his heals properly and not healbot Tambo or alec, he will have a successful season.
Week 1 holds little challenge for TragicServers. Their first match against Stag Party may be in the range of 5-2 or so, as XCV has strong DM on scout. The second match against Extra Chromosome eSports should be over quickly, as the guys and gals of Extra Chromosome are all pretty new to the world of 6v6.
- pyjamallama
- Karova
- Voll
- Mikey
- Train
- Ricky
Karova can be a pretty polarizing player. Anyone who has even pugged with him will likely attest to that. His DM and game knowledge are both good, but he has little patience for mistakes or foolishness. He’s on pocket for bird noises, and I have no doubt that he is the primary voice of the team. If scrims are any indicator though, this seems to be working quite well for the rest of his team. Train and ricky in particular seem to be shining in the fragging department. Mikey and voll are both pretty solid players who will benefit from being directed by Karova. The problem is that I don’t know how high the ceiling for a team so dominated by a single personality is. Karova is a good player, but he’s been in open since season 14 and I can attest from personal experience that it’s not good for player growth to spend that long in the division.
I do expect bird noises to get off to a quick start against lesser opposition in HOLLA AT YO RICH HOMIES and We’ve Got Numbers, but their real challenge will come in weeks 3 and 4 when they play three teams who are at or above their skill level. Until then, I hope it’s all smooth seas for the bird noise boys.
- gecks
- S
- nimby
- Altitude Cow
- glukkon
- Marty
OK, this is the actual worst team name in open this season. Sorry ESEACantMeltSteelTeams. Sorry, gold man-sacks. Elite Pwnage Squad has got you beat. However, as bad as their name is, this is a team with a lot of potential. Marty and glukkon are the scouts, and their aim is really a sight to behold. Glukkon especially puts up huge numbers. S seems to be a bit behind the curve on pocket, but he’s not putting up bad statlines, and his low damage may just be a side effect of having such good scouts. The other soldier, nimby on roamer, seems to be struggling a bit more than the rest of his team against good competition, so his improvement will likely be a huge key. The golden voice of TF2, gecks, is playing his second season on medic, and frankly even if he’s terrible at the class (He’s not. He’s actually pretty solid.) I’d still want to play with him just to hear those dulcet tones.
While I have this team ranked pretty high, they’re a solid choice for the breakout team of the season. They went 8-8 last season and kept most of their core together. If they want to break into the top echelon of open, they’ll need to make a strong statement in week 1 against two teams who they should be handily, We Pause for Pizza, and Smoke Nothing Everyday. If Elite Pwnage Squad drops more than a round or two against either team, I’ll be strongly reconsidering placing them this high.
- cyntro
- aZn
- ry4n
- JaguarFiend
- brrton
- glop
Another season, another JaguarFiend team kicking around the bottom half of the playoff race. This season, screwb has moved on and Jag will need to muster all of his ability to keep his team moving forward. Luckily, he has kept most of the rest of the squad together from last season. Brrton has been around forever and will be joined by the talented glop on scout. Ry4n will be rounding out the flank on roamer, and aZn will be hopping from medic to pocket, a move that I think will be decent for the team. While aZn isn’t screwb, he does have pretty good soldier DM and knows how to play around JaguarFiend. Speaking of Jag, for all the flak he catches, he’s better at demo than his critics let on. Cyntro is the replacement for aZn on medic, and his ability to split heals between Jag and aZn while still keeping his scouts buffed will be a major hinge for the success of this team.
I don’t expect SASABE to have many issues in week 1, as they go up against the mid-open Add GpitC and the WhitePowerJesus-led All Natural Orange Juice. If WPJ goes crazy on demo, I could see Jag and co. lose a round or two, but it’s tough to make a huge impact on demoman post-nerf and I’m expecting a 5-1 from SASABE.
- plinko
- row
- flatline
- procreative
- phone
- Moolkey
City of Lions went 10-6 last season in ESEA and finished just outside playoffs. This season, they’re keeping the core of the team and will be looking to improve enough to get into that top 16. Phone and moolkey are on scout, with flatline on roamer, which should be a pretty good flank with cohesion carrying over from last season. Unfortunately, the combo seems to be all new to the team, with plinko on med, row on pocket, and Procreative on demo. Procreative is a good player who can hang with the better demos in open, but I haven’t seen much from row or plinko, which can be a bit frightening for a team that needs to be taking steps forward, not struggling to gain chemistry. Look for the flank of this team to do a ton of work against bubble teams, but struggle against the real contenders.
Week 1 does not hold any of the aforementioned contenders. The Washington Wizards are another team who are returning from last season, so if row and plinko are having trouble adjusting to their team, the match could be a bit closer than expected. Against Togain Add Me, however, there is no excuse. A 5-0 or 5-1 would be standard for any other playoff team, and City of Lions will have to do the same to climb in the rankings.
- cookiejake
- syath
- Digi
- DCkillinspree
- Dominiking
- Vanitas
The remains of last season’s 13th place team, Adderall and ADD, Shredded features a number of fast risers in the competitive community to go with some solid experience. The fast risers are soldiers Syath and Digi, who have both come into their own as high open soldiers in just one season. The experience comes from scouts Vanitas, who has a season in IM, and Dominiking, who has been jumping around on multiple classes for a few seasons now. Both are talented players who can make huge plays from the flank. The player on this roster I’m not as high on is DCkillingspree on demo, who is struggling to do a lot of damage in scrims. Perhaps that will change with time, or perhaps he will prove to be Shredded’s undoing in the playoff race.
Week 1 has an instant challenge for the Shredded boys, and it’s one I don’t expect them to fare well in. Strafe Power is a decent challenge, but I think the team can come through in that one. It’s match number two against The Sad Men that I’m worried about. If bsc and company have gotten a demoman locked down, Shredded looks to be outgunned. They’ll need to be on top of their game and keep bsc on tilt to sneak out a win against The Sad Men, but to be honest, I’m not optimistic.
- Katsy
- etney
- Koga
- Hearts
- Kresnik
- Yosh
The reformation of last season’s 16 seed, It’s All We Know, Galactic KND is exactly what they were last season, a bunch of very good Highlander players looking to capture the 20b magic in 6s. While I don’t expect GKND to pull a 20b, even in their second season, I do think they have the firepower and teamwork to make a splash in 6’s. Katsy is on medic, healing etney on pocket and Hearts on demo. The flank is made up of Kresnik and Yosh on scout, with Koga on roamer. Koga is a player who I’ve seen in action quite a bit, and he’s been very impressive. One problem this team had last season was turning set plays into transition pushes. They tended to play very methodically, pushing a point, taking it, then setting up for their next uber push. Hopefully the addition of Koga will add some fluidity to their play.