What an unreal finish to that game

Good riddance Toronto!

I'm still emotionally scarred from having to cast that match.

Which is wild, since Gullywash was an absolute banger.

i52 immunity vs Mix^ Snakewater (and tbh the rest of the series) has pretty much been my answer for ages, but Mix^/Epsilon from the same event deserves recognition.

The most fun game has to be Mix^ vs Ducks

The last two maps from S15 LAN Finals between Mix^ and iT (B4nny Team) are what got me into following invite TF2. Also created the flocked by a seagull memes.
Badlands (Map 2), Process (Map 3)

Season 16 LAN had some good ones, but Street Hoops vs Exertus was a standout. Feel like this series doesn't get mentioned enough/ever. Best of all time? No, but still worth noting IMO.
Map 1 Map 2 Part 1 Map 2 Part 2

Xensity vs Chess Club on Metalworks was saved in a great matches to watch playlist I had. Usually means it was recommended by someone like Marxist who has been around for ages and seen his fair share of great matches.

Ozfortress S15 finals, I think it was Granary was pretty insane. Mightve been process, but I want to say Granary was a GC comeback. Stakes were pretty high for an ozf series too, because if ego(ex immunity) or Jasmine Tea won and committed to attending i58, they got 100% of the prize pot as opposed to sharing a split. This is the first really stand out series I casted.

Continuing with stuff I casted, these dont necessarilly belong in a best matches category, but they're games I casted that I remember standing out as good games:
Crowns vs Jasmine Tea from i58 Groups on Product
Se7en vs EVL Map 2 (Gully) from Rewind 1
Black Swan vs Kings Crew Lower Bracket from Rewind 2
Se7en vs Ascent Rewind 2 Groups
ESEA S27 Running with Scizors vs Velocity Esports, Badlands. Wild comeback.

I'm sure I'll think of more matches at some point. It's been a while since I've used the deep cut great matches part of my TF2 brain. Hope this gives

Moral of the story? If you're setting records in the regular season, you really do not want to play Bobrovsky in round 1. First Tampa, now Boston.

From the Canadian broadcast, did not seem like a high stick

Went to the 3 Blue Jays game in Anaheim, absolutely unreal series, and the finale was one of the best games I've ever watched

Was contemplating going, that schedule makes it TOUGH

Love this move. I'm a little surprised to see him play down with Haula and Boqvist instead of with Hughes/Bratt or Hischier/Mercer though.

Definitely a phenomenal add for Ottawa. They're a sneaky good team, and one I'm really excited to see continue to grow and develop.

Tarasenko and Kane are they sexy moves they made, but the Tyler Motte trade is the under the radar one that I think will pay off. A 4th line of the revitalized Jimmy Vesey, Barclay Goodrow and Tyler Motte is one that will provide offense, physicality and defensive ability. Reminds me of that Coleman-Gourde-Goodrow line Tampa had that was vital for their cup run. I'd expect that 4th line to have a similar impact. Hard to argue against the Rangers D and Shesterkin.

Massive nab for Edmonton. About time they tried to improve their defense!

Common sense says they should never make the Hronek trade based on the teams current construction if they want to win a cup. Problem is, they don't want to win a cup. The way they operate it's 100% clear that Aquilini wants playoff revenue, and when you realize their goal is to just make the playoffs and not win a cup, the Hronek trade makes a lot of sense, sadly.

Being a Canucks fan sucks right now.

I'll take trades that after half a month already look way better than I expected. I thought Quick was washed and done, instead he's been great for Vegas. Korpisalo has also been great in LA. Guess they're both working out.

Other deadline deals I'll rattle through that I was a big fan of:

Greenway to Buffalo: Not an exorbitant cost, and I like what he brings to a fun team.

Lazar to New Jersey: Cheap, solid defensive 4th line center who can kill penalties. 4th is good value for that.

Nyquist to Minnesota: He's hurt, and the league warned teams off of trying to cap circumvent by LTIRing him until the playoffs. Nyquist is good, Minnesota needs offense, and if he's bad he's a UFA. 5th is great value. Wild also getting Johansson (3rd) and Klingberg (A bag of pucks) were both good low risk moves before they get cap fucked next year.

Niederreiter to Winnipeg: Good player, good fit, good value.

And a couple I hate:

Bonino, Granlund, Kulikov to Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh spent a lot of assets and I don't think they got better. Granlund was a massive headscratcher, especially taking that entire contract. I guess the saving grace is that the rumored deal of multiple high draft picks for JT Miller didn't happen? Just a poor deadline for them.

Puljujarvi to Carolina: I get they love fins, I get he has pedigree, but similar to Kotkeniemi, I don't see him discovering that potential in Carolina.

Tanner Jeannot WTF to Tampa: I can't question Tampa, as evidenced by them sending 1sts for Hagel, Coleman, Goodrow and now Jeannot over the years, but jesus that trade felt way higher priced than it should have. Welcome to the flat salary cap world where cheap is the biggest booster of value.

I really hate to say it, as a Canucks fan, but this is my pick:

Best team in the league got better. This team may be getting old, but they're deep at forward, deep at D and have 2 great goalies, and only got better at the deadline. They kind of remind me of the 2011 Canucks. Only way this team gets derailed is injuries. Obviously a lot of tough outs in the east, Tampa, Toronto, Carolina, the Rangers, so they'll have to go through hell to get there, would love to see Carolina make the finals, they've been good enough for ages but live in Tampa's timeline. Do'nt sleep on the Devils either. East is death. I don't think Buffalo makes it, but if they get solid goaltending, they could upset someone if they get in, that D is strong and their offense is electric, goaltending is their major red flag.

West is going to come down to goaltending solely, can Oettinger match last playoffs and get Dallas to the finals? Can Georgiev keep Colorado alive until they're healthy? Vegas, I don't think make it deep, they feel like a first round upset to me. Would be fun if we got Kraken/Knights round 1, battle of the expansion. Minnesota I don't see getting the job done, Edmonton's D isn't good enough and their goaltending is too inconsistent, but you can't rule out a healthy McDavid/Draisaitl offense. LA and Winnipeg are intriguing, LA has such a young deep core, but I don't trust Korpisalo/Copley to get them past round 2. Winnipeg, can never write off Hellebuyck and they've played a really strong system, Bowness made the finals his first year coaching Dallas, can he repeat the feat in his first year in Winnipeg? My gut says no, but I could see it.

Final picks: Boston over Colorado in the finals.

Vintage Binnington

Ok we're going to do it

Honestly a settings guide for TF2 would probably be super useful for new players. Pointing them to FPS configs, fixing their FOV, key stuff in an autoexec like null cancelling movement script or a resup bind.

Hey TFTV land,

Back on Monday me and Marxist casted together for the first time in ages on Fireside Casts. At the end we tossed around the idea of doing a podcast where we talk and tell stories about various people, events, and noteworthy moments from the last decade of TF2. With Marxist having been around for 13 years, he's got his fair share of stories, and we've both had fun reminiscing together. Right now we're just throwing around ideas and one of those ideas is to eventually bring guests on. The focus would be mostly NA based since that's pretty much our entire background, though I'm sure I'll slip in an ozfortresss anecdote or two, and it would shift depending on what guests we have, assuming that comes to fruition.

I'm mostly curious if there'd actually be interest in us hosting this, and if there's anything you'd like us to cover: individuals, eras, teams, etc.

Also made a poll if you don't feel like commenting.
https://strawpoll.com/polls/eNg69vpAAnA

We back.

Amazing game to return to, can't wait to cast again