There really isn't a reason not to do a pre-game scrim. I usually warm up before scrims so that way there I can't use not being warmed up as an excuse for doing bad, so I play dm and jump around on the map that I'm about to have an official on to warm up my mechanics for scrims, and then use that pre-game scrim to get myself in the right mindset of team play and comming, etc.. for the official. I'm sure others will agree that this is a good routine to get into in general, whether there's an official that night or not

It's kinda similar to how you would warm up with teammates before games in actual sports: not only do you all get the benefit of playing something more organized than just a pug, but you can sort of judge/remember how your teammates play and how best to play off of their strengths before you need to do the real thing.

That's not to say that individual mechanical warmup is any more or less important (the pregame scrim can sort of judge how well you warmed up mechanics and how well you think you might do in the official), but optimally you'd need to make time to practice both to be in the best shape possible for your actual match when it all counts.

I think it is pretty important to get in the groove of playing with your 6 before playing an official. It's also good for going over strategies and trying to iron out any flaws you might have as a team.

It depends on the team.

I've been on teams that petered out pretty quickly and thus pre-game scrimming was a bad idea if it went longer than 20-30 minutes because we'd come into the match burnt out.

I've also played on teams where no matter what the first 30 minutes of play would be absolutely horrible, so it was imperative to pre-game so as not to completely blow in an official lol.

I would take your scrims as a guide - if you generally come into a scrim cold and perform well, then hassling with extra scrims likely won't be necessary - if it takes you a few minutes before things start working then it would be beneficial.

Don't see why you couldn't do both, if you haven't played at all that day 20-30mins of DM will warm u up but at the same time so will a scrim, and 20-30mins of DM + a scrim will be even better than either individually because they provide different things (DM being literal mechanics and scrims being decision making and teamplay etc)

I appreciate your answer Sprite, but I'm more after to what people think is better of the two if you only did one. Because my team is discussing whether we should do it or not. Not how much we should do.

Thanks for the other answers, I personally feel that they are really beneficial to myself. I always feel we make a lot of mistakes in the pre-scrims and it tightens us up for the official but a teammate of mine worries its risky if we lose or otherwise get tilted.

I personally love to have a scrim before the official, every single team I've been in did it so far but it could end up tiring you out if you have been playing a lot of tf2 before during the day, and you end up playing a very long GC official... I'd still go for it though.

I'd say scrim over personal warmup because you can dm on the spot while people join and the game will warm your dm up anyway. You could try getting a lower div team for your warmup if your gamers tilt easy, although if you do end up losing that it will definitely suck for morale... Or you could try the opposite and go in knowing that you WILL lose and not worry about it, thus being able to focus on your teamplay more maybe?

Usually I'll organise a pre-official scrim with a team that I know my team can beat, so that the scrim is more about getting used to calls and warming up, and we can avoid any tilt that comes with just getting smashed before an official.

But if you lose to them anyway, then that's extra tilt IMO.

At that point I usually organise a pre-scrim scrim against an even weaker team to boost morale

And then you roll them and feel overconfidence, also not good. Should just pick a team you always play doesnt matter if you lose.

Negatives, I think you risk burnout and it's possible your team can get tilted before your official. Then again, sometimes getting annoyed gives you an extra incentive if you want to put it right.

I get home from work about 6:15-30, so I don't want to have to go straight into a scrim and then play an official.

i dont see an issue with pregaming teams much better than your own. when you get rolled, you can mirror what they were doing and the better team will expose what the weaker team is doing wrong.

play some 2v2 mge with whichever of your teammates are on at 1930 cet, chill in mumble and discuss the match, then use 2 map prescrim to warmup calls and teamplay, remembering how the official is likely to be different as the teams will play different so not to take it too seriously win or lose.

Some teams are different than others, a pre official scrim vs a weaker team never really makes us overconfident. The result doesn't really matter (cos we win), it's more just a good way for everyone to warm up and get their heads into the game

As for this, this is what regular scrims are for. At least for my team, nothing is really going to change 30 mins before an official

well when you've practiced fixing everything you possibly can before match day, you should have almost everything ironed out. when you scrim a very good team right before your official, they're exploiting the few things you haven't accounted for or haven't fixed. scrimming a team miles above your own as your first scrim of the week every week is counter-productive, as they're probably just going to shit on you and you won't know where to start.