ETF2L Season 30 Premiership is starting soon! Worried about the whereabouts of your favourite gamers? Curious to see what new teams stepped up to the plate? In need of some mediocre puns? If you answered "Yes!" to any of those questions, we’ve got exactly what you want with this season's team previews. If the answer is "No", feel free to post a comment saying that I should have found an opener that works with everyone. (You can also just read the thing.)

Se7en

• Scout: Thalash
• Roamer: adysky
• Pocket: AMS
• Demoman: kaidus
• Medic: seeds

Season 29 was quite a ride for Se7en, with the team changing half of its players mid-season. Still, the team led by kaidus powered through, seemingly unfazed by these changes, and finished the season without losing a fixture and reaping 4 awards. Se7en are surely expecting nothing but first place, as they arguably have the best that Europe has to offer on each role. The only issue the team will face in the upcoming season is the loss of one of their Scouts, Thaigrr, who was banned from participating in ETF2L for two months. However, the presence of credu on their team page could mean that this issue has already been dealt with, although nothing is confirmed yet.

SVIFT

• Scout: Funs
• Scout: SVMZI
• Roamer: chris
• Pocket: MikAZN
• Demoman: Smirre
• Medic: Connor

SVIFT are coming back from a one-season hiatus, but with massive changes to their roster. The only player left from the original roster is founder SVMZI, who picked up some very talented players from all over the British Isles (and also Sweden). MikAZN and Connor will be forming the combo, and the two already have experience together, as they both reached Premiership with nunya 4 seasons ago, under the (much funnier if you ask me) aliases papi and Condawg. Smirre, a player who’s been very solid the last seven seasons or so will be the last member of the combo, and departing Ascent.EU players Funs and chris will complete the squad. Funs does have some exams that will hinder his playtime near the end of the season, but the situation is under control as krafty is ready to swoop in and sub for him if such an occasion rises. With a roster filled to the brim with upcoming players who are yet to win anything, and under the guidance of SVMZI, this team is no pushover and will be looking to reiterate Season 28’s success.

Ascent.EU

• Scout: Opti
• Scout: Néo
• Roamer: Médico
• Pocket: Corbac
• Demoman: Elacour
• Medic: Ombrack

See also: Ascent.EU reform with all-French roster for Season 30

Ascent.EU are looking so French this season, you could call them Mont Blanc. As the runners-up in the past two seasons, Ascent.EU have parted ways with every non-French player, leaving them with only Ombrack and Elacour. To replace credu, Funs, chris and Josh, Ascent.EU has reunited with former top5rocket players. Opti, Néo, Médico and Corbac will be rejoining Ombrack and Elacour; the reunion will be special for Opti, as Season 30 will mark his first season of Premiership and his first season of competition since Season 22. Ascent.EU will be looking to beat the old third place curse that struck every French team in the past, seen last in Season 26, and the Medic/Demoman duo of Ombrack and Elacour surely think the same.

Ora Elektro

• Scout: Scruff
• Scout: Nevo
• Roamer: Azunis
• Pocket: eskimo
• Demoman: Eemes
• Medic: Demos

Although Ora Elektro was in Premiership last season, their roster differs wildly from that season, as they are using a very similar one to the one used at the Copenhagen LAN, with the only exception being Demos in place of Raptor. Ora Elektro were the last team to get into Premiership via the qualifiers last season and they ultimately placed 7th, but joined forces with OMNI5.EU players Scruff and Raptor, as well as free agent Eemes for LAN. The roster managed a fifth place finish in Copenhagen, notably taking a map off LEGO. Choosing to stay together, they’ve had more time to adapt their playstyles compared to newly-formed teams, so be on the lookout for them as their cohesive playstyle could hinder even the best teams.

The Bus Crew

• Scout: botmode
• Scout: alba
• Roamer: tobs
• Pocket: PolygoN
• Demoman: Yohn
• Medic: marten

Speeding through the qualifiers, The Bus Crew is the other team that finished in the relegation zone last season, but they showed that they had more momentum we thought, as they managed to take a map off OMNI5.EU in the last week, a team that would eventually place third that season. They carried this good form into Copenhagen Games 2018, where they finished 4th, edging out Ora Elektro and taking a map off eventual second place MGE Chad. After this result, the team changed its roster: Deox and Poison were moved to sub spots and were replaced by botmode and PolygoN, who are both accustomed to playing at a top level with PolygoN winning Season 28 with SVIFT, while botmode placed 4th at Rewind II and 3rd in ESEA Season 27, with SVIFT NA. Thanks to those pickups, The Bus Crew will be eyeing at least a Top 4 finish, and have the potential to go quite deep in the Playoffs as well.

Velocity eSports EU

• Scout: ixy
• Scout: Crayon
• Roamer: Raf
• Pocket: Olgha
• Demoman: nuze
• Medic: Honey Badger

Velocity eSports EU is one of two teams that did not exist last season, and you could say maybe even the only one as the bin is very similar to Lowpander. So, what is this team made of? Well, the team is an idea of nuze, who assembled some veterans coming back to a prem level like ixy or Honey Badger and some of the new prem talent that was revealed last season, with Crayon, Raf and Olgha.

They qualified for prem after a very close defeat at the hands of The Bus Crew and subsequently defeating Professional Disney Fangirls in two maps. The team seems very well balanced, with each player adding something different to the squad, and with the calls of nuze, one of the finest tftv analysts, could pose a challenge for more uncoordinated teams.

the bin

• Scout: Mr.Epic
• Roamer: Muuki
• Pocket: uubers
• Demoman: RaTSLaYeR
• Medic: shampain

The bin is filled with the core of last season's Div 1 winners: Lowpander, with the only changes in the off-season being the loss of cookye and Hildreth getting swapped out for RaTSLaYeR. There is some unknown factors, most notably that they are still missing a scout. But, with a roster that already has good synergy together and some DM beasts like Mr.Epic and uubers who will be looking to help Muuki in his quest to the “Best Offclasser of the Season Award”. I would advise to look beyond their trashy appearance, as one man’s trash is another man’s Playoff contenders team.

TTD

• Scout: iatgink
• Scout: hems
• Roamer: groove
• Pocket: yllen
• Demoman: lukas
• Medic: degu

After the roster shuffles at the end of Season 29, there were only two teams that were in position to stay in prem: Se7en, who did the shuffling during the season and surprisingly, TTD (previously known as the swamp). TTD managed to avoid relegation after a close game against Ora Elektro in the last week, but the high point of their season was their shocking 3-0 victory over Se7en on Product. The roster has suffered some changes, and the core of degu, yllen and iatgink will be joined by 3 newcomers: groove, a High talent that has been around for quite a while, hems, who played 2 seasons of prem in nunya and Da Choke Bustaz who is surely eager to join another high-meme potential team, and last but certainly not least lukas, staying on the Demo role that he started playing last season where he showed an impressive amount of skill. TTD are one of the more untested teams so far due to exams, but they possess a very solid roster, and are prime contenders for some upsets.