On Sunday 24th, the Grand Final of the ETF2L Highlander Season 8 Premiership will take place between two former champions with current holders Tourettes Chessclub facing off against Season 6 champions Highpander. This game will mark the 8th European crown in the four years of the most coveted trophy in Europe. It will also be the first time a team have won multiple titles, since SNSD won in Season 3, ending a four season run of new champions each season. Surely though such an open period of competition seeing 5 different champions for the past 5 seasons has made it one of the most interesting scenes to spectate, albeit perhaps not showcasing the greatest quality but the absence of dominant teams is a breath of fresh air in a scene where the same team has consistently won over time. Random facts aside, season 8 could mark the end of an era, with many of the top teams predicted to fold, and the exodus of old players likely to put an end to their Highlander careers, the 9th Season being a whopping 5 months away, will we even see either finalist come back to defend their title in Season 9? It's too early to tell, but BlackOut Gaming TV will be bringing you the action live from 20 CEST this Sunday (24th May), with three of our panel leading the coverage. Whether or not they're covering certain players for the last time in a 9v9 setting, we'll have to wait and see.

It has though, been a remarkable adventure these past 4 years, and this season has been very competitive and seen it's fair share of excitement, drama, controversy and the occasional touch of class. To review the key moments, I have bought in a roundtable of people involved in the scene, ranging from casters, to former players, admins and content providers. This will be a unique discussion as it will not involve any starting players within the ETF2L Premiership, the insight will mainly come from a spectators point of view. Please welcome the views of my EU HL media roundtable:

BlackOut Jon – Co-founder and current manager of BlackOut TV, currently leading streaming duties.

Emilio Estevez – Former leader/Demoman of Season 5 champions Kill Switch. Currently a backup player in the Premiership.

CeeJæy – Current Caster of the season with BlackOut TV, currently plays in High.

Bulow – Former Medic for Season 6 runners-up Itsallgood, currently Caster for BlackOut TV.

Kkaltuu – ETF2L Highlander admin and resident TF2 erotic fan fiction producer, also a runner up with Itsallgood in Season 6. Currently backing up for Fair Enough.

Shoutout to Prof, the ETF2L newswriter who was in mind to be invited to this discussion but sadly has been away due to internet issues.

Season recap

First off folks, thank you for giving us your time. I want to begin by covering some of the key moments in the season, but give me your brief summarisation of the season so far? Have you enjoyed it, where does it rank in terms of the most memorable?

Jon: I feel like this season hasn't been the best, mostly because of the skill gap between the top and bottom half of Premiership. At the start we could see who would be in playoffs and estimate the season's outcome so there wasn't too much to look forward to. Overall this ranks in very low in my favourite seasons. please can I go back to season 5?

CJ: This season has been great, there's been some really close, entertaining games - take the latest, the semi-final between PremTech and Chessclub which went the absolute distance across 3 maps. There's been upsets - how about prem-debutants WASP taking points from Highpander and a map from Chessclub? Or Fair Enough's close-but-not-close-enough attempt for the playoffs? Games like that are a real showcase for European Highlander and TF2 in general.

Bulow: Honestly, I wouldn’t say it has been a vintage season. The relative weakness of the teams coming up, continuing instability/mehness of stacked, and FE never taking any points off ‘better’ teams meant that the ‘shocks’ – HP and Chessclub dropping points to Wasp – resulted in the top 3 being pretty much a foregone conclusion. Moreover, I wouldn’t say that any of the top three teams have really improved either. Chessclub have changed pretty much their entire line up, PremTech have lost some of the excitement due to a combination of increased expectation and no Shadowburn, and Highpander are just a bit more focused than last season rather than improving (apart from Kissakala being kicked off medic). Even some of the subplots have been done before – use of the beggars bazooka, B33p. Hopefully the final will provide some standout moments, some big plays that can be a defining moment.

Kkaltuu: Since I didn't play much myself I can’t say it’s memorable, but it did have great moments (Nursey getting bombed non-stop, b33p’s hero sentry jump just to name two).

Emilio: Definitely one of the least memorable. A Highpander/Chess final and the bottom 2 teams getting destroyed like everyone predicted.

So lets rewind back to the start, pre-season roster shakeups and drama with Chessclub. Quintosh being banned, Sprayer being kicked and going to rivals Highpander, Uubers and Atomic leaving and joining rivals Premtech and of course just before playoffs, their leader Scissors ragequitting the team – Emilio as a leader in the past, how much of an achievement is it for Chess to make the final after such a turbulent season?

Emilio: They changed a bunch of players which looked like it had backfired early in between seasons but they picked up enough good players to basically guarantee them top 3 providing they didn't make any big mistakes. It seemed like they just sort of cruised into the top 3. I think the whole season could have gone much differently though if some of the top High teams were in Prem this season, the bottom 3 won only a single round against the top 3 all season and I'm sure a couple of the high teams could have taken more, which might have changed the top 3. I don't know if they'll even be back next season after losing so many players, which would be a shame as I still think Chess/HP are a step above the rest of Prem.

Bulow: I’d agree with Emilio, it was pretty much plain sailing for them into the top three. Whilst they lost a lot of players, they were able to get in people with pedigree at the top, e.g. their new flank. That alone wouldn’t have been enough if the field had been stronger though; can we really say that any of the teams that were in prem last year have really improved? Losing Atomic and Uubers was big, but these guys didn’t drop further down the table to improve a mid table side that could then challenge; instead they went to replace the gaping, Shadowburn sized hole in Premtech’s flank, another top prem side.

Let's talk about Premtech, a crazy and controversial season for them but focusing on the performances, do you think Premtech choked under pressure in the Semi-Final? That last round versus Chessclub springs to mind.

Bulow: I think it’s fair to say that Prem Tech were playing under more pressure this season than last – that’s what happens when you raise expectations by coming second in your promotion season. Certainly during the regular season, they were very strong; they only dropped points in a narrow loss to HP on Warmtic, and on Steel. Unfortunately for them those losses were to the other two big teams, so they were left in third spot for the semi final. During that game, they started strongly with a very fast round win on Steel, before losing the next two rounds. Then they dominated Process, their map pick. That Badwater game just ebbed away from them as it wore on, culminating in that very poor last round. However, I’m not sure it can all be attributed to choking. The match lasted two and a half hours, so if you combine that with a scrim beforehand, these guys had been playing for almost 4 hours straight. Fatigue becomes an issue, especially for players like Maito living in Finland where the game must have ended at 1am. A drop off in performance should be expected. Also, apparently the PT mumble was being trolled by people, doling out abuse. That can be very distracting and irritating ever after they’ve buggered off. Oh, and they lost Uubers and the only person they could seemingly get was Popcorp, who isn’t exactly a top prem soldier. So while I think they played under more pressure, and certainly crumbled in the final round, I think calling it a choke is a bit simplistic.

I have to talk about the “Premtech Gang” incident, b33p denying mercs, Premtech's response to the situation, Maito's laughable LAN threats – What are your thoughts on that? Is this good for the game to have controversy or do we want to move away from petty dramas?

Jon: - It's always a laugh to see what petty things people can come up with, to shout out controversy affects everything we interact with but when some parts are taken too far or blown out of proportion, it's about time we call it quits. Moving away from it all and creating something more professional is good, but a bit of banter now and again is cool.

Bulow: - It’s pretty boring now, it seems to happen every season and only ever with Stacked. We need a new meme. Maito was being a stupid kid, but he has more excuses than other since he is, you know, a kid.

Now it's my turn (gulp), Highpander's season has one of the more quiet ones, nobody dropped or kicked from the roster, taking the 1st seed. Does it surprise you to know this is our best performance in terms of points tally ever, despite the lack of a consistent practise schedule and roster for all the matches?

CJ: I'm not surprised at all that Highpander made the playoffs - with ease - their squad is far too strong to expect any less. But a records points tally? I was worried that motivation might be an issue of so many successful players, already with a Prem title under the belts, but the start of the season proved to be key - picking up 7 points against last years finalists, in convincing fashion, meant the top spot was Highpander's to lose. Players seem to be on form, and I was expecting the team to bounce back from last season's disappointing defeat in the semi-final and do well this season, and they've shown everyone they still have what it takes to be at the top.

Bulow: - Not at all, the other top teams have also had their issues (probably more significant) this season too. Clearly there is more focus and desire than there was last season, otherwise you wouldn’t see so many of the old faces still in the team.

Moving down the list, Kkaltuu what happened to Fair Enough this season? Started so well but failed to take anything off the top 3, but they had their chances, my mind draws back to that Viaduct map versus Premtech where they lost a 2-1 lead.

Kkaltuu: Obviously seeding had a hand in it, but from what I can remember of that night is that Fe had awful scrims. The team play wasn’t up to standard either as the whole team expected to have more cohesion after so long. Sadly scrimming with mercs and the inability to react on new situations meant they didn’t played as well as they could have. Looking at the Highpander match it really showed how bad it was. I think we only scrimmed it two nights in total and the only win was a cheeky one vs premtech. Just before the match the team made several adjustments, but as soon as the announcer counted down, those were thrown out of the window. The idea at the beginning of the season was to keep a steady roster and scrim multiple nights, but as the season progressed there were always players with other commitments that made it impossible to use the full line-up. That said, it’s an improvement from last season [Finishing 7th]. 3rd place S9?

Finally some comments on the bottom 4 sides, we had Stacked going for gold but coming in a disappointing 6th place, what went wrong for them this season?

Kkaltuu: I played for them one week when suzy was gone, and whilst they have amazing players (Hidan/Exon on demo for example), it flawed a bit in experience and communication. There are a few players new on their positions that haven’t figured out the highlander metagame yet. Communication is notoriously difficult with the frenchies, and when Asadwarf was calling for the team to fall back, some french players marched on like it was winter in Russia. If it wasn’t for Asadawarf’s leadership the team would’ve done way worse. That guy deserves some kind of award.

Bulow: - Roster instability would probably be the big one. Just too many different players throughout the season - look at the stated line up on their team page, four classes have multiple players and a fifth is Inso on spy, who merced for them a few matches this season. If you want to do well and build season on season, you need to keep a core of players together who actually want to play and improve together; that’s what Highpander and Chessclub have had and that’s why they won the previous two seasons.

WASP's performances were probably the most admirable, everyone expected them to be crushed but they took some surprise points off of the top 2 and came 5th. Emilio do you think can they challenge for the title in the future?

Emilio: I doubt it, they have 3 really good players in ShadowBurn [Mercing versus Chessclub], m0rg and Forsak3n but I don't think they can carry the team much further than mid table alone and there aren't enough good Russians in etf2l for them to realistically challenge as a Russian speaking only team. Next season looks like it will be stronger than this one and if the the top 2 teams come up from High I think they'll be fighting to stay up again, it looks there might be 4/5 teams very close in skill making up low/mid prem next season. They deserve to be in Prem right now though, they're a lot better than the bottom 2.

Finally UKIP and Unpoppable had rough seasons, both came through pre-season Premiership Playoffs with teams that had poor seasons in High, UKIP put up the worst performance ever seen in Prem with 0 points whilst Unpoppable will fight it out in the relegation playoff against the loser of the High playoff final. Should there be a more organised and vigorous pre-season playoff structure or do you think Unpoppable and UKIP deserved a chance at competing in Prem?

Bulow: I think it is what it is; there will always be a worst team in prem. The difference has been that in the past teams fold before they end up with zero points, so fair play to UKIP for carrying on. Unpoppable finished just three points behind Stacked as well so it’s not like they were that far away from reaching safety.

I haven’t really followed high this season, so I can’t really comment on the relative qualities of the teams. I know that people have said that the top High teams are able to beat them in scrims quite easily, so on that you could argue that they shouldn’t be there. But these teams that are beating them didn’t want to be in prem either, so I’m not sure what the admins could realistically do; you can’t force people to play. I think it should also be noted that three of the top four teams in High are new this season and the fourth, Mad, were in Div 2 in season 7. Contrast this with Unpoppable and UKIP who have both been around for a bit longer. I’m not saying that you should be given a place in prem as a sort of life time achievement award, but these teams were not realistically going to improve vastly from another season together. The newer teams in High however did have a chance, so I wouldn’t begrudge them choosing not to try in prem straight away. That being said, I think it’s a little sad that more Highlander teams can’t be like Lego in 6v6 i.e. willing to bounce around between divisions, and not just folding after defeat. There does seem to be a very short term view that if you’re not winning, it’s not worth it. I remember my Div2 relegation scraps just as vividly as the Prem playoffs.

Moving away from Premiership, High looks set for an exciting finish with the final between Megakillerz eSports Fanclub eSports and Mad? still to come. Ceejaey, what are your thoughts on the new Swiss system this season?

Ceejaey: High has been really exciting this season - in the end there were 4 teams seperated by only one point to get into the final playoff position. With that in mind, the system has made it possibly more exciting than the previous format, but in my opinion, also more unfair. Take finalists Mad? - during the course of the season, they only had to play 2 out of the top 10 teams in High. The other semi-finalists - Mega Killerz, Moe Moe Kyuuuun and my team, Strong Opinions, all had to play 5 of the top 10 teams. Others who missed out on the playoffs even had to play 6/10 - I've heard complaints that you could argue that some teams get an easier ride during the season due to the scheduling, whereas before you had to play every team in your division, which gave perhaps a fairer representation. But it has opened up some surprises - teams who were expected to be "mid div2" level have gone on to excel, and this system gives a chance to a lot more teams to prove themselves against tougher opposition.

Do you think any of these sides can compete in Prem next season?

CJ: A lot of the top teams in High have been scrimming teams in Prem, so based upon those results I think a lot have a really good chance. MegaKillerz have been really strong - even beating the likes of PremTech recently, while Moe Moe & Strong Opinions have beaten the bottom half of Prem in a lot of games - I know in Strong Opinions we've even taken a couple of maps from Fair Enough. I'm not entirely sure of other teams scrim results, but I'm sure those teams, given the chance, would put a solid showing in Prem.

Emilio: I think Megakillerz can challenge for a playoff spot if they do well, I still don’t really expect them to close the gap with the very top of Prem though. There are plenty of other teams in High who could come in and play at a similar level to WASP too. Bottom/Mid Prem is going to be a lot closer/stronger next season I think.

ETF2L and the future

Lets talk ETF2L rules now, we talked briefly about the Swiss system, but another controversial subject has been unlocks, I am of course talking about the Beggars Bazooka and Loch n Load. Give me your thoughts on the weapons, are they indeed OP? Or have people figured them out, should we keep them in?

CJ: The Beggar's Bazooka has been figured out - that much was clear during the course of this season. HartzFartz is the most well-known name associated with it, because he uses it with such great success - he got more med picks this season than any other player. However using it effectively requires a very suicidal play-style, which leaves your flank exposed, and the top 3 teams this season could counter it, with some players even saying during interviews they had specific plans to cope with Hartz. The Loch-n-Load, on the other hand, I feel is overpowered. The fact that almost every demo has switched to it during the season, with some even using it more than the sticky launcher should be a sign. If the clip size was reduced back down to 2, people may be happy to let it back in, but in it's current state it's a very frustrating weapon to play against.

Jon: Beggars Bazooka is a great weapon in my opinion, it's added a new dynamic of play with some pretty amazing plays made throughout the season with it so I would be an advocate of keeping it. As for the loch-n-load: please just go! It's far too OP and has made the Demoman the focus point of a Highlander team now more than ever.

Bulow: I don’t think the Loch and Load is OP. It’s situationally better than the pipe launcher, and given the nerf in stickies, I don’t think it changes demo too much. Beggars on the other hand is OP and has a negative impact on the quality of play. Soldiers can cover a great deal of distance and then still unload two rockets at point blank range. All it does is encourage teams to either play more passively, or play in a more ragged fashion that discourages team work. Also, whilst minor, it has rocket spread so you can potentially be rewarded for poor aim. Ban this sick filth.

Emilio: Sandman banned please, stuns aren't fun and even the TF2 dev commentary admits this. The Beggars can go too. Or just unban everything, but don't have a banlist without the beggars.

Kkaltuu There might be a few unlocks to review with the admin team, but I think Uubers did a good enough job to show why the beggars isn’t for everyone. That said, we mainly interested in adding items to the whitelist, not removing them unless really necessary.

Kkaltuu as the admin representative here, tell me - Is two Highlander seasons per year enough? It's been a 9 week season to fit in a busy schedule. Should we go back to the days of 6 teams in the Premiership to shorten the season and fit in a third season to the calander? Is it fair to the Highlander scene they only see two seasons per year whilst 6v6 sees three, even though Highlander statistically has more players? Or is it a pure numbers games, as 6v6 has more stream viewers?

Kkaltuu: That’s a tough one. The main points in this are that we have overlap with our 6v6 players and that we have to plan the yearly schedule way in advance. I certainly think we can do more with highlander each year, which in turn could mean faster paced scheduled seasons or more highlander events in between them. The biggest question for now is: are we willing to separate the 6v6 and 9v9 format schedules and let possible collisions between those formats exist? A six (or even a 4) headed premiership division is an idea worth looking into, especially with the different formats discussed within the admin team. It’s never about the numbers game. There is no secret that highlander’s signup numbers have declined for the people that don’t know. [see image below]

Kkaltuu: The only constraint we have is: who is going to pay for more highlander seasons?

So are you saying that ETF2L has no interest in using the Tt sponsortship deal to support Highlander?

Kkaltuu: Too early to say anything useful about that.

Give me some thoughts on the new developments this season guys, I am of course talking about Saloon.tf starting out and now more recently a TF2 fantasy league which could be made for the next Highlander season, exciting times for competitive TF2?

Jon: Definitely so. The more ways fans can interact with the season and shape it in the direction we want the better right? Saloon.tf is something I have been involved in for a very long time so it's incredibly nice to see it blossom out. As for the fantasy league idea? I can't wait to grab zoob and breakfast_jr for mine!

Bulow: - I want to see betting expanded, e.g. how many times during a season will b33p call someone better than him a ‘scrub’?

Finally lads, give me your highlight of the season so far, and tell me who you think will win the final, Highpander or Chessclub?

CJ: Highlight for me is probably WASP beating Chessclub on Sunshine. For a new team to Prem - who at the start of the season was widely tipped to do poorly - to take a map off the defending champion is a huge achievement. Stands out for me most as I was casting another game at the time and didn't believe the news at first, but probably because I had bet an Earbud on Chess to win...as for the final? I think it's going to be really close. Chess looked really strong against PremTech in the semi-final, and Highpander have so many players that can turn a game on it's head in a moment. If both teams have their full rosters for the final - I would tip the Pandas to take it 2-1 on maps.

Emilio: Both of these teams are fielding pretty experienced players now. But Highpander have been together longer and pretty much all the starting roster has 3+ seasons in prem, so I expect them to win.

Kkaltuu: Drop in the chess/PT game on Badwater was huge. I bet on chess, but I’m rooting for my boy Grenja

Jon: I think the big highlight for me was all the way back in Week 1 with Highpander and Chessclub on Upward, such a great start to the season. As for the finale: Highpander, my love. [Ed note: <3]

Bulow: I think Highpander should be expected to win the final. They came out on top of the regular season and the massive roster changes for Chessclub throughout the season mean that, even if individuals are upgrades, the overall team synergy is much lower. Phroblem is also back and playing properly – he was the best player for Highpander when they beat us in season 6, he’s got that mentality. Also, I don’t want LazyBear to win. Highlights of the season are, of course, everything B33p does, Le Prem Tech Gang, and Inso cyberbullying Scissors out of his own championship winning team.

So the final score from the Media is that the season has been slightly too predictable and less memorable that others gone by but still has had it's fair share of standout moments. Some teams are lacking consistency, others are just experience whilst the top two have managed to bring enough of both to make it to the final. Premtech had a rough night last Sunday, Fair Enough improved but still remain the foot of the bridge that separates the top 3 and the best of the rest whilst WASP have had a good season. On unlocks the panel was divided over what should be banned, some favouring keeping the Beggars/Loch N Load and some believing it's unbalanced, whilst the Swiss system is perceived to be a good thing needing a few touches to improve overall whilst ETF2L are remaining silent about the future of prizes for the Highlander league.

Thanks to my panel for answering all the questions, next stop is Grand Final day tomorrow at 20 CEST, live on BlackOut TV casted by CeeJaey and Bulow and streamed by Jon!