Listening to music, creating stuff, and hanging with friends.

I am legitimately excited for the revival of ramjam. Was talking about this map about a week ago, and then boom, Jusa outta nowhere.

GLHF everybody! Should be a fun season, especially now that there's some casting coverage. :D

You really outdid yourself, Recurse! Great article!

Not even kidding, if you add 50 more chainsaws (and entirely new areas so those 50 chainsaws have homes) I'll host an entire tournament on it with like, idk, 50 keys or something as a prize pool. And yes, I will count the chainsaws.

edit; if you can also add raining chainsaws, all the better. Maybe some lasers, too... and chainsaws that shoot lasers.

The league (in the past) has had more than a fair share of problems, and I've made promises that were quite simply far too early to announce, or just not realistic to do at the time. (like the $100,000 S Rank pool, where I said up to. It was a questionable way to market it)

Regarding LAN. I originally approached the Toronto LAN organizer to help out with that as a way to gain experience with organizing large venues. TLAN unfortunately never got around to happening (organizer couldn't do it), though I still most definitely have an interest in helping out if she were to ever start the project up again.

As for UberJam (our own lan) I'm still not counting that out, but am no longer including it in the overall grand plan for TFCL. It's still possible that we'll host it, but it's not a priority anymore. If we do end up hosting it, travel benefits will still be included. The top teams from the highest level will be given free or discounted travel to the lan. Again, if we host one. We also announced the lan alongside our pay to play structure, all the way back in 2017. The pay structure didn't happen then, and neither did the lan.

Everything else on the article you provided is a part of our league as it stands today. The ranking structure, the pick up game system. The only two things from the article you linked that didn't actually happen, were the lan, and the weekend tournaments.

What was said back then might have taken a while to actually happen, but for the most part, it was all truthful. The structure (hell, even the pricing for it) was announced all the way back in 2017. The fact everything was rebuilt with this structure in mind, and expanded upon in various ways, should show that there's longevity, and that the plans and features I announce, I stick to.

May 13, 2017
(bball never launched, though team creation is possible)

This might be an exception
That's where I announced the hiatus. Things started breaking well before the hiatus itself went live, which is why I decided to start over from scratch with a new developer, and a new platform entirely.
If I were to update that article, it'd look like this.
Will my play history carry over?
No, it will not.

Tournaments & Cups?
We hosted one cup, and cancelled the rest. It didn't go well.

When's next season
I was told initially that it'd be ready by fall. I said fall. It wasn't.

What does this mean for UberJam
Cancelled, with possibility of future support.

TFCL has been expanded a lot since then, and things have shifted rather significantly between 2017 and today. Though a lot of what was said is still valid and a part of our current league.

If you have any specific concerns over what the league (or I claim the league) provides, let me know. Running TFCL has been a learning experience. I've made mistakes. Hell, when I first announced it, I straight up acknowledged that I didn't expect for it to ever succeed. That I was inexperienced, and quite simply not good enough to run a league. That was three years ago, and we've gone through a handful of revisions. Multiple developers. Multiple business plans and strategies. We've gone through a lot. I've gone through a lot on a personal level. And yet TFCL is still here. It has a new developer. It has a new website. It was literally remade from scratch. The problems with the old league couldn't be fixed, so we rebuilt it. So if the question is dedication, or lying, or making grand promises that I don't keep? Honestly, just look at the history of the league, and look at what we have now. (well, in two days).
We have a release window for the pug/lobby platform. We have a server network. We have semi-automation (auto match reporting isn't ready yet). We have the divisional structure and even the same prices announced in 2017.

I'd be open to talking with you directly about me and TFCL. I honestly don't like it when people hate or dislike me, so if you want to talk about it and work out whatever differences we may have, I'm open to the discussion.

Not for the initial season, no. The map was selected months in advance, and we helped with playtesting and hosting pugs on it, and directly contributed feedback to assist the mapper.
For that reason, and due to our early involvement, the first map is going to be koth_clearcut. I know a lot of people aren't familiar with the map, but it did get a fair amount of testing in NA. The idea is that by having a league officially test it out and collect feedback on it (most importantly, collecting demos of how the map is played and sharing those with the mapper), we can better assist the mapper with developing and optimising their map for competitive play.

Every map we include will have gone through extensive testing either by us, or by other members of the community. This would of course include other leagues. So, while the specific map for a given season might not always align with other international leagues, the odds are pretty high that we'll all end up using the same maps anyway.

Yup, it's one map per week, two teams (matches) per week. So 16 games per season, 8 maps, 8 weeks.
As for why? Basically, it's just what everybody's used to in NA. That's how ESEA operated, so it only makes sense that a proposed replacement for ESEA operates in more or less the same way.

It's been a very long time coming, but it's finally here. After taking over a year to fully redevelop our league from scratch, TFCL is finally relaunching our league on June 15th.

I know a lot of people are looking for a quality replacement for ESEA. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible, and just give the info everybody on here cares about. If you have any questions or want to know specific policies on how TFCL operates, feel free to ask them and I'll respond back when I can.

Servers: TFCL has servers in 16 locations worldwide, and will automatically assign a server to your match. The TFCL network is powered by cpu.tf, so if you want to get a feel for the network, you can create a free server reservation here. Because everything is operated on-demand, we are able to increase (or decrease) how many servers TFCL operates at basically any time, and with very minimal change to our pricing, since we only pay for what's actively being used.

Scheduling: TFCL's new scheduling system was built to be as similar to ESEA as possible, as far as core league function goes. You propose a time, server, and date, and the other team then has 24 hours to accept, or make a new proposal. Default times are Tuesday and Thursday at 10:30 PM Eastern.

Divisional Structure: TFCL is split up into five main divisions. The Premier divisions are pay to play, and are basically set up in the same way as ESEA. So, Open, Intermediate, and Invite. The Standard divisions are free to play in, with one being a mirror of our "open" division, albeit with a significantly reduced prize pool. The other free division is designed strictly for newer teams and players to learn the ropes of TF2, and doesn't have a pool at all. It's most similar to UGC Iron.
Teams will have the option of playing in Standard or Premier, with the choice mostly coming down to whether or not you want to pay for a higher level of competition with a thousand dollar pool, or if you just want to take it slowly, and compete at a lower level, freely, with a hundred dollar pool.

Whitelist: TFCL uses the global sixes whitelist to try and unify as best as we can with other international leagues.

Fair Competition: We don't believe that segregating the community into smaller and more compact divisions is the way to encourage competitive growth, nor do we enforce any kind of super team policies. Being good is a good thing, and you should never be penalized for that.

Casting: TFCL, just like ESEA, makes the STV information public for anybody looking to cast (or just spectate) live matches. The more organizations and people casting competitive TF2, the more exposure and publicity TF2 receives. That's always a good thing.

Map List: TFCL uses the same core map rotation as ESEA, though with one major exception. The fourth week of every season will feature a new community map. This may be changed depending on community feedback and reception. (if changed we'll replace 4th week with a core map)
Also the maps are static. There is no veto system for the regular season, ensuring that every single map in rotation will actually be played.

Pick Up Game & Lobbies: We are creating our own custom PUG and lobby platform, due out this October. The platform is built directly into the league itself, and we have plans to expand it throughout 2020 with more features and general functions. We intend to use our pug and lobby platform to host official league tournaments and events, which is why it's being built into TFCL itself, and not operated as a separate service.

Realistic Prize Pools: Nothing is being paid out of pocket. TFCL is a business, and we're here to make money. Because we're not segregating teams into smaller divisions, and are using the same core paid structure as ESEA, anybody of any skill level will be able to compete for $1,000, with the league earning more than we're giving out.
So basically, TFCL is funded by its players, just like any successful business is funded by its customers.

edit: I actually forgot to add this, but it's a pretty important feature coming in spring 2020.
Scrim Automation: Teams can create a scrim schedule, which the league will use to automatically assign teams of a leader-defined rank to scrim at the desired time. Leaders have full control over the scrim, and can choose automatic scheduling, manual scheduling requiring leader approval, or no scheduling at all.

Automatic Scheduling: Teams are automatically assigned a scrim at the leader defined time, and with teams of a leader-defined rank.

Manual Confirmation: Teams that are signed up for Automatic Scheduling will appear as Scrim Requests, which the leader can sort through and manually select.

Scrim Requests: Teams that are using this option can only ever send or receive manual scrim requests, and will not be a part of the automatic scrim system. Best to think of this as a “challenge” system, where teams can challenge other teams manually to a scrim.

Well, I think that's the main info out of the way.
You can find our main website here - https://tfcleague.com/
When we officially relaunch in two days (the 15th), we'll have a separate website that handles all of the league functions.

It's worth mentioning that TFCL is an on-going project, and as time goes on, more features and core league functions will be introduced. Everything is releasing in increments, with the core league and server network being available on the 15th.

"I had the most fun playing as the Pyro class and using the flamethrower."

He's a pyro main. Did we honestly expect a quality review from a pyro main?

It's mechanically one of the best esports with nearly infinite potential. You have so many engine mechanics that you can learn, practice, and improve upon, with there always being some higher level of skill to reach. It's more than just "shoot the bad guy" like almost every other esport out there. The skill ceiling is arguably higher than every other game, and yet TF2 still somehow manages to be friendly for newer players. It's a game of knowledge, of tactics, of speed, of skill. And no other game comes close to matching that.

TF2 is basically the best of all worlds. It is, to me, the perfect game for esports.

Hey guys. I just wanted to thank everybody for their feedback on TFCL, and for the wonderful support I've been getting since this article was published.

For the past week or so, I've been releasing some important details on the league, with the most recent article being published earlier today that gives more information on our divisional structure, prize pools, and sandbagging policies.

Information on servers and league automation:
https://tfcleague.com/2019/05/22/tfcl-servers-automation/

Information on divisional structure, sandbagging policies, and prize pools:
https://tfcleague.com/2019/05/26/tfcl-divisional-structure-sandbagging-prizes/

If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out on here, on Discord, or directly on Steam.

It seems like they're discontinuing support for the forums. There isn't a link on the main site to it anymore, either.

McCafe coffee with two cream one sugar.(canada version is good)
If not that, then 100% a soft drink. Usually a Coke or a root beer. They basically give them away every summer so that's where I spend my $1.

If food, maybe fries now and again. That's pretty much it.

https://play.esea.net/teams/138675?tab=league

There's a difference between being "bad" and dying.