so the Saints could crush their dreams for the millionth time. gotta keep it fresh

i tried; https://pastebin.com/tdJr76TF

i don't know if i got all the rosters right or not, but here are my preseason rankings. honestly, after #6, it was mostly guessing, so I'm sure someone can do better

which teams aren't playing that are in IM? was trying to make power rankings but idk if some of these teams are alive or not

https://play.esea.net/teams/154704
https://play.esea.net/teams/8707120

there are over a hundred unique weapons in this game that produce hundreds of combinations of loadouts. at the rate in which Valve works on their game, and the quality of their balance changes, how long do you realistically think it will take before a large majority of people agree with any whitelist?

lock

In my opinion, the map pool should represent the eight strongest maps possible. With that said, it's really hard to determine which maps are better than which because the incentive doesn't exist for players to play and test them.
This was evident with the inclusion of cp_kalinka in PugChamp, in which no one played it at all. Also, because new maps being introduced in ESEA rarely happens, there is even less incentive for people to play new maps, because why play maps that will never see actual competitive use (same thing with map makers; why spend hours upon hours making a map for competitive if it will never see competitive use)? I think we need either more map cups/more incentive to really see if maps like koth_warmfrost and cp_cardinal are really ready to be seen competitively. Personally, a Faceit hub with all new maps + prizes could be a great start to this,

With that said, i still do think koth_bagel should be added to the map list. It was rated much higher than any other map after the map cup last year. Also, Granary is considered by most people to be the worst map in the map pool. I don't see why it shouldn't be considered based on this information, and i would like to see another vote on the matter.

Edit: Formatting

froyotech went 20-1 in rounds against Ascent with yomps playing for ascent, how is b4nny "taking apart any team that can challenge his?" also, velocity, woodpig, svift, and ascent all had interesting games against each other, what are you on about?

i love j4v

i dont think ESEA is retarded enough to think this will attract hordes of UGC players, I think it's meant to 1,) attract CS:GO players to play in a new league 2.) bring back IM which will make both divisions better to play in, which in turn 3.) makes the barrier to playing ESEA lower with the decreased costs, less sandbaggers, etc.

if ESEA wanted to attract ugc players, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that equation out, just make a free beginner division that plays once a week while offering some sort of incentive that is better than receiving a participation medal. i think you have to give ESEA some level of respect and say they knew this wouldn't attract UGC players, but I still don't know how effective this model will be. looking forward to IM for sure tho

in the last 625 PugChamp NA games, kalinka has been picked exactly once. here is the log of that game;

http://logs.tf/1899009

bring back proudct/a new map worth testing.

i'd prefer analysis completely compared to play by play. I think analysis ia much more relaxing, enjoyable, and creates a much better story of what is actually happening as opposed to calling what specific players are doing.

he subbed for our team at the last second to play a pregame scrim and our match and he farmed, love this dude.

i can recall at least three times on PugChamp where he decided to killbind in spawn rather than play because "we were going to lose anyways."

i respect him a lot as a player because I think he is very good, but between what kia posted and his spotty team history as of late, I'd be pretty cautious if I were gonna pick him up.

i think the biggest issue with koth_bagel is that whenever it was picked in pugs, people would complain and throw rather than actually trying to learn how to play it.

idk, bagel has some pretty clear issues (foward holds, needs more geometry near point imo) but i think it's a decent map with the most potential out of all the current maps. the pendulum has definitely swung the other way with the map (it was well received after the map cup http://www.teamfortress.tv/39816/new-map-cup-data) but if I were to model my maps after some koth maps, I'd look at bagel and product. the biggest issues with these maps imo, though, are;

- sniper sightlines
- op forward holds
- maps being too wide to help flank
- frames (at least for me on bagel)

if you want to make UGC players play ESEA, the answer is pretty simple. UGC is a low committal league that provides a great introduction for newer players without them having to pay fees and commit for months. so if they wanted that, they should offer the same thing while improving upon it.