I've been detached from what's been happening in the TF2 community since I've focused on Overwatch esports and college over the past few years. But as someone that's known dashner for a long time, I've never known about any of this stuff until now, and i'm utterly shocked and disappointed in the way he has treated people. dashner should not be allowed in the TF2 community anymore, and to a further extent the entire esports scene.

HeyGuys

Memes aside. It was really fun covering the OWL Grand Finals with over.gg. I'm planning on doing content in the coming weeks.

Jerax was a former TF2 player; really awesome to see him winning TI8

At least Blizzard is considerate about maintaining a positive PR image for OWL compared to what's happening in TF2 right now.

I feel like the reason why some people in the TF2 community are assholes to others is because they think they can get away with hurling insults at others in a small community. Compare this to Blizzard, who practically fine and ban those in OWL that instantly make any derogatory comments.

Honestly, people that are massive jerks to others just because of their race, gender or sexuality need to take a good long look at the mirror and think about their actions

I'm planning on doing some upgrades to my current PC, which I mainly use for gaming, programming, and writing.

My current specs right now:

• CPU - AMD FX 6300 3.5GHz
  
• MOBO - ASUS M5A97 R2.0
  
• GPU - Sapphire Technology Radeon R9 280X
  
• Memory - Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 1600MHz
  
• Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
  
• SSD - Samsung 850 EVO 256GB
  
• HDD - Seagate Barracuda 1TB
  
• PSU - Corsair CX600M 600W
  
• Case - NZXT S340

I have a budget of $550 USD to spend, and I'm looking to upgrade my CPU, MOBO, and GPU (and PSU in-case any of the parts require more power).

A lot has been happening with the Overwatch League signing period closing in more than a month, and a few former TF2 players are (or are reported) to join some of the franchises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGv41dSFEJU

Super is on NRG (San Fran franchise)

https://twitter.com/TeamEnVyUs/status/911668339629547522

Seagull has moved from NRG over to EnVyUs (Dallas franchise)

http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/20837666/optic-set-bring-overwatch-players-coolmatt69-muma-sources-say

And Muma has been reported to join OpTic (Houston franchise)

https://twitter.com/Mumanji/status/913524956348153856

OpTic sponsored by Chipotle, Muma reported to join OpTic :thinking:

Fasten your seatbelts everyone. Roster mania just got started.

Confirmed:

https://www.hltv.org/news/21153/guardian-and-seized-step-down-from-natus-vincere

Guardian and Seized have left Na'Vi

Reported:

https://slingshotesports.com/2017/07/27/guardian-seized-depart-natus-vincere-faze-clan/

Guardian is reported to join Faze and likely replace allu

https://twitter.com/neLendirekt/status/890586508842893313

ANGE1 is possibly going to join Na'Vi.

https://slingshotesports.com/2017/07/26/valde-sign-north-replace-magisk/

Valde will be replacing Magisk on North.

https://twitter.com/tolkienfanatic/status/890588356819767297

More changes coming to Hellraisers.

https://twitter.com/neLendirekt/status/890700766289305600

And almost every single top team are considering changes.

https://youtu.be/ygE01sOhzz0?t=36s

https://puu.sh/wR867/ba2f5c9fba.png

Mfw I see SK vs Astralis in the quarterfinals

http://i.imgur.com/P2mzDNK.jpg

Day 1's complete. Standings so far:

1-0 teams:

• Gambit
  
• fnatic
  
• VP
  
• SK
  
• BIG
  
• C9
  
• G2
  
• Astralis

0-1 teams:

• mouz
  
• Flipsid3
  
• Vega
  
• Penta
  
• Faze
  
• North
  
• Navi
  
• Immortals

Day 2 matchups:

• Penta vs. North
  
• mouz vs. Faze
  
• Flipsid3 vs. Navi
  
• Vega vs. Immortals
  
• BIG vs. C9
  
• Gambit vs. G2
  
• Astralis vs. SK
  
• VP vs. fnatic

Day 2 preds: North, Faze, Navi, Immortals, BIG, G2, SK, fnatic

C9 has a good shot given the form they're in, but I'm a bit worried if they can keep up their momentum. Still hoping they make it through despite my preds though.

All rest of the challenger teams can potentially pull upsets too if they're in good form. I actually won't be surprised if Vega manages to surprise a team.

I forgot to put mouz and instead posted two SK's X_X

Here we go. The biggest CSGO tournament of the year.

http://major.pglesports.com/

https://www.hltv.org/events/2720/pgl-major-krakow-2017

Legend teams: Astralis, Virtuspro, SK, fnatic, Navi, Faze, North, and Gambit

Challenger teams: G2, mousesports, Cloud9, BIG, Immortals, PENTA, Vega Squadron, and Flipsid3

My playoff predictions: SK, Astralis, mouz, fnatic, Navi, Faze, G2, and Gambit

Round 1 preds: Gambit, fnatic, VP, SK, Faze, C9, G2, and Astralis

Prediction for winning the whole tournament: SK

ESL One Cologne's gonna show what the top teams are made of before Krakow. And there's a lot of good storylines too.

SK have been on a great roll over the past tournaments, winning two premier ones in IEM Sydney and ECS S3 Finals. They had a bit of an identity crisis after adding felps last Winter, but they've been able to integrate him into the team system, and everyone on SK is really strong, and they're at the moment the best team in the world.

The other elite teams aren't that far behind though. Faze since adding niko have been spectacular, winning Starseries S3 and making a few grand final appearances. They're another threat to look out for, and after being beaten by SK a few times (and being incredibly close to winning too), it'll be interesting to see if they'll adapt.

G2 since the French shuffle in February needed a few months to mold. But once the glue came together, they've been really good, taking the EPL S5 Finals in particular. With a lot of big fish around at Cologne, we'll see if they can come out on top. They're the last elite team that's at Cologne, since Astralis decided not to attend so they can prepare for the Major.

For the rest of the European side, they have a lot of prove. North have been in a weird state since adding Aizy, sometimes making it out of groups and sometimes going out. fnatic got their early 2016 roster back together, but they're also in flux. mouseports have improved slowly but surely since niko left, with oskar being one of their new stars.

Navi and Virtuspro have been on slumps of their own. Navi removed their long time coach starix but haven't made any headway since then, and VP are...VP. Heroic haven't shown that much in a few months after valde left, and NiP are the biggest question mark after missing on the major in tragic fashion, alongside friberg being out for rez.

The NA teams are usually question marks for me, as they can feel inconsistent. C9 has swung back into a decent form (something something summer season), but I'm not sure how long they can keep it. Liquid actually have a stable roster, but had a heartbreaking loss to F3 in the Major Qualifier, costing them a spot at the Major. Optic are the worst of the 3, missing on the major and marking their decreasing slump over the past few months after losing their IGL stanislaw.

Finally there's Tyloo and Space Soldiers. Tyloo haven't had good international showings, and they recently added peacemaker as their coach. For Space Soldiers, I've heard good things about them, and this'll be their first big event to show what they got.