Taking deep breaths when tilting helps a lot (for me atleast). Calms me down.

dont play tf2 sober

"unlucky"

just heal me medic please
*inhale*
JUST FOCUS PLEASE WHAT ARE YOU DOING MEDIC JUST UBER ME AND WE WIN

Just heal blackymonster and you'll be fine

let the anger make you turn super saiyan

let out a nice strong REEEEEEEEEEEEEE and keep going

alternatively think/talk about what the team is doing wrong and what you guys should be aiming to do/what's stopping you from being effective

Try using a push to mute button. I know you said you go silent and that but you could just the push to mute when it gets bad and then u can let off some steam without disrupting everything then unmute and back to ownage

keep a small pillow on your desk and scream into it

I just say what I’m gonna say without holding my ptt. Gets the frustration out and nobody hears you.

+10000000000

I've used several different methods over the years. First and foremost is the hammer fist on my desk. Letting out frustration in a physical way is the most rewarding and calming action for me personally. Yeah, my cats run away at light speed, my wife calls asking what I broke this time and I have damaged and repaired 3 desks in the past but I do feel better after hitting something.

The second thing I do when things are not going well is get up out of my chair and just walk around for a minute. Maybe pet a cat or 3 and calm down. I think you would be surprised on how the body reacts after you sit down again. You basically start fresh again.

One thing I use to get my head straight is to breathe in slowly for 5 or so seconds. Hold my breath for the same time, and slowly breathe out for the same time as well.

In 5, hold 5, out 5.

This also helps with catching yourself if you have hyperventilation problems and helps with staying calm if your heart rates go up.

I second this

deep breaths really help me personally, removing any extra aspects that might annoy you (music for whatever reason when playing annoys me). little things like that go a long way.

getting angry and frustrated is natural, but how you express it is dependent on you. for me personally, i usually have really high expectations for my play and when I'm not doing super well, i start tilting and focusing solely on myself to redeem my play. however, having expectations like I did are completely unrealistic, and focusing solely on your own play/tunneling makes everything a surprise because you end up not playing with your team (in a game called team fortress 2). so, i started congratulating myself whenever I played well, sometimes intentionally WAAAY over the top to relax more. also, every time I die, regardless of what bullshit killed me, I would spend my death cam to relax, breathe, and communicate/focus on the very next thing I was going to do (i.e., positioning, rocket jumps). i can't speak to your situation specifically, but I would try to find what you're thinking about when your tilting, and what response it's producing. i think you will realize that your thoughts are unwarranted.

also, don't worry about the past, because regardless of how hard you try, tilt is inevitable. don't beat yourself up over it.

If its in a scrim and people arent listening I usually get quiet and keep mental notes of what was going wrong/causing the tilt and address it after the scrim. If its in a match you just cant let it happen or you've insta-lost.

Alternatively, take a break from tf2. Could be burnt out.

One more thing to consider Yoona since some replies were not directly to your question. I think it is important to identify what is specifically tilting you. Is it your gameplay or maybe your teammates gameplay and/or mumble environment?

In most cases, ppl tilt because they play poorly or get poor results. They feel frustrated and pressure themselves more.
Pressure can cause some ppl to excel and get more focused, so pressure can be a very positive thing. It can also have the reverse effect depending on your personality so its good to identify which you are.

So either let the pressure fuel you or simply vent the pressure and start new.

its just a game and if youre too angry to realize that maybe you should find some time for another hobby

Stop caring so much. Fusionn made a video when he was playing with ebsikl in s23 talking about how to reduce tilting and such where he said the same thing. Its good to enjoy TF2 and try to improve, but if you just relax and enjoy the fun of the game instead of trying to focus on winning it really changes your mindset. Something from personal experience is I started to listen to my "calm down" chill playlist.

You are talking sense but its not always the easiest thing to do because its different for each person.

Myself for example, you could not find a more competitive person with the drive to improve. I try and do that in a healthy way but I realize my time commitments keep me from reaching my real goals. I work long hours so when I login for some TF2, I try and get as much work done as possible for improvement and maximize my time. Playing poorly is more a waste of my time than it would be for others at this point. That said, I pressure myself to perform to makeup that time difference so "caring so much" kinda comes naturally to me. I can't just turn that switch off so easily.

im not getting angry i just silently tilt as in i don't try and i just feed (without talking)

thanks for your feedback everyone

im not gonna pull some armchair therapy shit but I dont think physically punching ur desk or anything for that matter is remotely good for you and u really shouldnt let urself reach that level of anger playing a videogame. Also I cant really imagine ur wife being very happy about u smashing the shit out of so many desks, personally it concerns me that u do it often enough to have broken 3 desks so I wonder how someone that cares a lot more about u feels. Plus ffs man look after ur cats they dont deserve that.

Honestly a lot of people overlook how much they play tf2 when they find themselves getting excessively frustrated at the game. If all you do is play tf2 for 50 hours a week, you're only going to find yourself burnt out and unhappy. I mean it only makes sense that you would get upset when you perform poorly at the only thing you do. In my personal experience, supplementing other hobbies into my day and limiting the amount of time I allowed myself to play tf2 during the week resulted in me enjoying the game a lot more

rofl thanks for the concern but I was embellishing a bit. The desks did happen, but that's over a 20 year period. Smashing the same spot on the desk tends to make that area weak over time and they break. Maybe its the wrong way to vent for 99% of other ppl but its always been satisfying for me to hit something like a heavy bag, or the desk for a quick release.

ps, my cats are the most loved and pampered animals on this planet. we ok :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oy6DwHAi70