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.

https://twitter.com/TF2League/status/1122950907694657536

This is the final season unfortunately.
https://play.esea.net/index.php?s=news&d=comments&id=15396

my body is not ready

Also, best of luck to Bowser and his Koopa army in running Nintendo. I fully expect a Bowser themed Switch soon.

Hey guys, I just wanted to quickly post an update to this thread, since there hasn't been one for about a year now.

In the last year, cpu.tf has a new primary website that's essentially just acting as a landing page. It has key information on how the service works, and how it's different from other reservation websites. We've also added a bunch of new server configs, sponsored a few events, and are trying to slowly get a premium service going to help fund development and server costs. There's also a new Toronto Canada location.

Computer and myself will try to be more active on here with service updates. We're also looking to sponsor some events, so if you're hosting a cup or small tournament and need a few servers in any location, feel free to reach out on Discord. (link in op) And also if anybody has any kind of feedback, we're all ears.

The OP will be updated soon with modern info.

I've seen this happen on Mario Kart servers, but never dodgeball. Also haven't seen it happen for a few years. Friend of mine had it happen to him, and unfortunately he was never able to get his stats back. No idea what causes it.

1. We've made it very clear that this tournament was primarily intended for North American players. As mentioned higher up in this thread itself, we specifically brought up the ping issues, and said how V!s may be at a disadvantage if they were to participate. They joined despite this.

2. The Grand Finals were always scheduled to take place at 8:00 PM Eastern. The schedule was made available the day the cup was announced. We expect for any and all teams, no matter their region, to be available at the scheduled times.

3. To forfeit a grand final match because the team you're facing is known to win, is not a valid reason to forfeit a match. By doing so, you're disrespecting your opponent, the league that's supposed to provide casting, and in general, just wasting everybody's time. Now, if the match was heavily delayed, and the players were unable to play the match due to this delay, then a forfeit or even a reschedule attempt will be justified. However, this is not what happened.

4. In regards to casting. We were live when V!s decided to forfeit the grand finals. He provided zero communication with any of our league administrators. The only reason we knew that he had forfeited his match, was because one of our casters noticed him say so via in-game chat. When we tried to reach out to him, both V!s and Syncing were offline, and unreachable.

5. It is not very sporting to refuse to play a grand final match simply because you're afraid of your opponent. Even more so when you don't even notify the relevant parties, and just leave them hanging with zero communication. What V!s demonstrated tonight was very unsportsmanlike behavior, and cannot be justified in any way, shape, or form, as proper competitive sportsmanship. It's in very poor taste to not show up for a scheduled event, and blame it on "them being better".

It's better to play and lose, than to not play at all.

I'm going to write up an official statement later, and also mention our stance as a league, and why we ruled in the way that we did. I'm also going to modify our rules to make them more clearcut and concise in regards to forfeiting a grand final match. The updated ruleset will be used and enforced for all future cups, tournaments, seasons, and league events.

The final ranking for the ultiduo cup is as follows.

1st. Primary (daffodil, delpo)
2nd. End Game (b4nny, nursey)
3rd. Memes For The Win (v!s, syncing)