is actually good at the game, recommend trying him out!

It Came From Open returns after a 2 season absence :)

Scouts: Citric and Revan
Roamer: Lieutenant Lemons
Pocket: Michael
Demo: Arch
Med: Willy

Good luck to everyone this season!

Consistent team with a very stable roster, they will turn a lot of heads this season and from scrimming them it's clear they have great chemistry, and well-coordinated aggression. Try out for these friendly gamers :)

Primarily looking for a pocket and subs now, bump!

I'm so disappointed :( I sadly have two midterms on the Friday before, and neither prof is open to the idea of me taking it on a different date. I can't miss them, so I won't be able to leave Thursday or Friday morning, and can't play in the open tournament. So, my question is this- how big a loss would it be to miss most of Friday? Is it still worth attending if I can put the money together to make the trip?

consider yourself considered :)

yes

Mastrej is a great teammate and has improved leaps and bounds at scout. I haven't played much with the rest, but you won't find many players more dedicated and willing to improve than him :)

I don't have time to play full weeks of scrims this season but I'd like to continue playing ESEA.

I'm looking to lead a team whose goal is to have fun playing a full season of open, without the commitment to regular scrims. I'm open to the idea of pregame scrims, but don't really care- we can decide that as a team and playing with a ringer or two wouldn't be a big deal if we chose to play pregame scrims. I'll schedule matches and try to get them all tuesday/thursday at a reasonable time.

I don't really mind how good you are, but I'd prefer some experience in open or not-steel UGC. I care more that anybody who plays is friendly, easygoing, and won't tilt much. I enjoy competition, and am not interested in playing matches without teammates also doing their best to win. That said, this team is for fun first and foremost. :)

Looking for subs only now

Scouts: Citric + Revan
Roamer: Lieutenant Lemons
Pocket: Michael
Demo: Arch
Medic: LFP

subs: tedders, anjiricool, SassyTheSasquatch

welcome :)

Do we know yet what time the open tournament will start on Friday?

cu@ and LFT :)

REWIND BUMP

I'm looking to play pocket > roamer > scout for an open team at rewind. hmu let's play video games :D

Also, I'm leaning towards subbing for S27. All I ask of any potential team is that you have played in open previously, have a fairly friendly mumble environment, and expect to need me in scrims or matches occasionally. I can play soldier or scout. I can pay for my own premium if you need me in a match :)

I think a big part of this question is how to reach the silver and high-steel team leaders. From my (limited) experience of ugc, the team leaders tend to be the most motivated and focused on improvement, and they are the type of people who would be, in theory, willing to put their team in a league they would improve faster in.

However, despite open being just that, open, the majority of them are scared to register their teams in the division. They (mostly rightly) believe that they aren't "ready" to play in esea. When I first joined an esea team through the S23 newbie mix team drive, I still had a bunch of friends that didn't think they were good enough yet, who were better than me. Was I good? No. But I was ready.

If we can reach out to those team leaders, and somehow get at least 4 or 5 to sign up with their teams, that combined with each season's bottom open teams would in theory give them plenty of competitive matches. I think if we managed to do this, it's our responsibility not to leave them hanging out to dry. Support them, offer mentorship for teams and players, and keep as many of their teams alive for as long of the season as possible so that they can keep having competitive matches.

I don't think it's impossible to accomplish this. I think that an important distinction should be made about playing in ESEA Open. Sell the experience not as "the teams are so much better you'll improve a lot more" but as "the teams and players are a lot more motivated and you'll improve a lot more and it will feel a lot more rewarding". Be realistic, don't tell them they'll be 8-8 in their first season. But we could say "I'm also talking to these UGC team leaders, two of them have already decided to play esea". Make it clear that they will probably start the season against some tough teams, but will quickly start to match against other teams who don't start well- especially other ex-UGC teams and teams that would normally be bottom open.

Some of their players might have problems with paying, so this is where season-long premium codes come in. In my opinion, these would be very justifiable to use, because we would be actively bringing in whole teams to ESEA who wouldn't otherwise be playing in the league.

If we combine all this, I think we could convince at least 4 or 5 UGC teams from steel and silver to play in ESEA. Just imagine how much healthier mid and low open would be with 8 more teams spread throughout the lower end of the league- fewer forfeits at the end of the season, more fun games. Not every player would return the next season, but the ones who truly enjoy the competitive environment are always the ones who come back for a second season anyway.

THE BEST

http://www.photo4design.com/files/166/82502-tilted-keyboard-key-letter-w.jpg

thank you :)