TF2 the terminal cancer patient living day by day

I guess the new motivation for winning open is that you will move straight to Invite in the next season!

I still don't understand why.

Even if IM had 13-14 teams, the league fees would still add to more money for ESEA.

Pushing all those 13-14 teams to Open will mean the same players still pay to play in open. (unless they quit because of this change)

Lower league fees in Open means less money for ESEA. This can't be strictly about money cause the numbers don't add-up.

What do you mean "us" Mr. Invite Apt. =)
Going to enjoy adding you to the database after next season.

Jesus Christ this fucking sucks
My Friday was going so well until I got that refund EMail

I see no reason why the IM division would be disbanded if we only had 14-16 teams.

We still end up with 3-5 dead teams every season by the 3rd week anyways so what does it really matter what we start with?

Last season was a great IM season as far as matches played and teams staying alive as compared to many other seasons.

I don't really care much for what people consider the highest level of comp as compared to past seasons, that discussion doesn't mean anything. Old players left and very few newer players / teams have worked to fill the void.

The last time we have had an invite division with more than 2 Championship caliber teams was back in Season 20. Ever since then it has been a 2 horse show between the same teams and players. Maybe that is why the newer players lost motivation, who knows.

The only thing we should be striving for is competitive matches in our invite division. There are so many players from low invite to high/mid IM that are honestly on or near the same level of skill. These players and teams stepping up to invite and having competitive matches with their peers is all the division really needs to continue.

Winning against the top 2 remaining "high invite" caliber teams will probably not happen often. However, if the invite division has 9 teams, it would mean 6 or 7 teams being close in skill level and therefore 12-14 competitive matches per season. That isn't a waste of time in my opinion but I can't speak for everyone's motivation for playing the game. In a purely competitive sense, it seems like fine situation.

From this point forward, I am going to cheer for the Penguins. Maybe that will work

Instead of just enjoying your day off or eating food, go find someone who has served your country, shake their hand and say thank you. You likely have a grandpa in your living room right now enjoying a steak and that handshake will make his day.

CommanderX may be the most overlooked and underrated caster in the community. He has a good voice for casting and has a lot of experience. IMO he was tailor made for being a color commentator but could main cast just as well. CommanderX would regularly say why or how some push or tactic didn't work in a quick and accurate way, while not lingering too long at the expense of the current action. Not many casters can do this well and they just keep talking about a push that failed 90 seconds ago while new plays are currently happening and not being casted accurately.

Arx was a caster I wish did more. He had such a great casting voice and would stay on top of the action non stop. He was an animal during team fights and transitions. He rarely had good casting partners from the casts I have seen and would have benefited a lot from a solid color commentator.

Admirable was a good caster when he wasn't saying stupid things about EU compared to NA. Unfortunately, in lots of casts, this would just drown on for the entire map and would get annoying and repetitive. A few fun loving jabs I can take but sometimes it never ended. Still, he did a fine job of relaying information and almost always had a solid grasp of the team situation, a skill most casters don't develop.

cbear was probably the best caster who could talk smartly about team fights. Casters today and at i55, i58, etc would not be able to process all the action in a team fight and simplify it by focusing on who "is down" during a team fight. They basically just report deaths in the killfeed and the fight itself is not being casted. Being able to still focus on the team fight and provide that "feel" for listeners is a difficult casting skill to have and cbear seemed to do it regularly.

gecks has/had the finest casting voice of them all IMO. He would almost sound like a sports caster at times and it was enjoyable to watch those matches. gecks would have a good grasp of the situation with ubers / positioning and relay that to listeners really well. The gecks/sideshow casting pair was as good as it could get IMO.

Sideshow is probably the caster with the highest awareness of changes. He would almost always spot an offclass or a switch to kritz or some other situational nuance before it had an effect on the match. I think this allowed a lot of the great plays in TF2 LAN's to be viewed real time because the Cameraman was informed of who to watch on the fly by the caster. Sideshow could sound overanxious/excited at times but that was usually just his passion for the game that took over. Can't say I have a problem with it myself.

There was an old EU caster called Pledge and he was the most passionate sounding caster I have ever heard for TF2. He always sounded so into whatever he was casting and made listening to just about any match exciting. He didn't care who was playing, it was all trying to professionally cast for him. It was sorta like listening to a soccer match and once the action started, his voice would get stronger and he did a fine job relaying the action. I don't think he was paired with many strong EU casters back then and it's a shame because he would have been the ideal "color commentator" to support a main caster.

I personally enjoy Bren as a caster as well. He has a clear, strong voice and does a fine job staying up with the action. He did a fantastic job at the last i-series. He would remain calm even during messy team fights with an overload of information.

Lots of casters panic in many situations and have serious trouble relaying that information quickly and accurately before it happens. I wouldn't want to name anyone or put them on the spot and talk bad about them here. However, there were many who simply didn't do a good job. That said, I appreciate the effort and the willingness to cast matches. Those guys and many others put in free time for the rest of us to enjoy TF2 and they do it for no pay.

Sounds to me like the pocket soldier in question was full of fear

Gandalf: Well, he could! At the Battle of Gullywash, he charged the Froyo ranks. He swung his RL so hard, it knocked the b4nny King's head clean off and it sailed a hundred yards through the air and went to respawn. And thus the battle was won, and the game of TF2 invented at the same time.

What a weak ass fucking lucky goal, god I hate this team so god damn much

looks like a 2nd OT incoming. What a great game 7.
LETS GO SENS!

Its obviously Michelle Jenneke