Definitely all true, which makes it even more sad that in spite of the financial burden - a top EU team was determined to attend an NA event for years but the event organisers did a less than stellar job of making it a possibility.

Despite how bloated i-series became over the years, it was at least a constant - for a decade (2012-2022~, or i46-i69) everyone knew exactly when and what it was, so if a team or benefactor wanted to make it happen it was in their own hands (though from my own experiences getting teams to Rewind I have immense respect for all the NA people that made the trip during that decade, I should add).

Sadly from my fairly limited perspective it feels like the potential for international competition was essentially held hostage by a very small group over the past few years since i-series lost it's prestige/viability, otherwise I'm sure we'd have seen a 'world championship' calibre event in NA.

Most recent thing I've read is The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell (source material for The Last Kingdom on netflix), and would recommend to anyone that enjoyed the show. Not as high brow as some recommendations here but probably the best historical fiction I've read regardless of TV show association, and as with all TV adaptations so many arcs, details, characters etc were skipped that it's well worth your time if you liked TLK. For some perspective there are 12 books but only 5 seasons of TV show, granted a few of them will be covered in the feature film that's still to come, but as an example - s01e01 is basically book 1 condensed into 40 minutes of TV, which is extreme even by adaptation standards, and there are numerous examples of equivalent condensing. I feel like compared to a lot of adaptations the books have remained fairly under the radar despite the show's success so thought it's worth a shout.

So in a scene that is hanging by a thread, during a period with a quite literal once-in-a-lifetime set of circumstances allowing for an uptick in activity and motivation, ETF2L genuinely don't want to have a season for the next 6 months? For the purpose of loosely aligning with a LAN that may or may not happen, and one that there is no reasonable way of determining whether it will happen until 2021 itself? This is honestly a new level of mismanagement and self-harm from ETF2L, and that's coming from someone who went through a triannual cycle of bemoaning the questionable decisions taken in the past - all of which now seem completely trivial by comparison. Were it not for the fact that ETF2L have set a long-standing precedent for "questionable" decision-making, I would honestly suspect foul play.

I'd be very interested to hear exactly why aligning the timeframes of a hypothetical LAN and an ETF2L season justifies putting the scene on hold for half a year. Don't get me wrong, I can see the benefits but they are nothing more than a novel convenience, while the consequences could be absolutely devastating. We've had countless seasons in the past with poor overlap to their corresponding LAN events - it's not ideal but it's a hell of a lot better than having literally nothing for six months. Cups do not count, if you are going to purport the argument that they are an apt substitute for a season then I propose a simple solution to you: have an autumn/winter season, and then have a cup which corresponds with CHG 2021. Following the logic that cups are a fitting replacement for seasonal play, surely this is a completely acceptable solution with a far more optimal schedule.

We actually had a similar situation once where the admins did not want a season but the vast majority of the player-base did. The reasoning back then was that ETF2L did not want a season that ran through summer due to the interruptions vacations etc would cause, so instead we had an "interim" season. It wasn't a numbered season, instead it was just called AFS (all fucking summer) if I remember correctly. It wasn't recognised as an official season, but it was functionally the same and allowed the players/casters/viewers to maintain their usual habits. If ETF2L really won't see sense and revert their current decision, maybe some sort of modified season could be put in place akin to AFS, potentially with a shorter timeframe required. Either have less teams per division and therefore less matches, or trim play-offs significantly, but for the love of god just have some kind of season for people to play while you still can.

This post might be able to help you out if you can't get in touch with him directly:
https://www.teamfortress.tv/49305/i63-pov-demos-thread/?page=2#41

Pazer doesn't have them unfortunately.

This seems like an extra-colossal fuck up considering the vods weren't saved locally by default whilst being streamed (or weren't copied from multiplay's PCs at the end of the event, assuming it was their machines). Also interesting that the email was sent the day after the vods were deleted, but my question tweeted directly to essentials after the fact was completley blanked and went unaddressed until now.

Are people only just now realising that RGL is deliberately beginning early to corner the market? I don't mean this to be derogatory, it makes sense since they are trying to run themselves as a "business", but it was pretty opaque let's be real

What do you mean by most? If there's a scene in which double elim is more prevalent than FGC, I've yet to see it, and bracket reset in GF is a pivotal feature of almost every FGC tournament. The principle reason other scenes don't use this format is because it is not pragmatic due to length of sets.

I feel like the badlands results are currently skewed due to the methodology of this poll. Having two instances of one map whilst one of every other was always going to result in that maps average being dragged down overall. There is roughly a 50-50 split of preference between the two versions, so even if you like the map in general it is likely that you gave one version a negative vote, which essentially splits the vote of badlands and drags down the average score of both versions significantly. There are exceptions to this (eg. people who noticed this problem and actively voted with the intention of offsetting it, or people who were voting in binaries of "keep" or "remove" (10 or 1 etc) and were badlands "remainers" in general) but you'd have to assume the version-split vote makes up the majority. I'm pretty sure the admins will be aware of this and will have some method planned to analyse the votes and come up with some kind of " true score" that offsets this problem, but I guess we will have to wait and see. At the moment the only thing you can deduce conclusively from this poll regarding badlands is that 2s cap time is preferred to 1s.

There are a ton of good videos out there to show you specific stretch regimens that are no doubt beneficial, but something specific to gaming that isn't often mentioned in those videos is the benefit of micro-breaks and stretching, especially if you are already having pain flare ups. In TF2 I found it very useful to do basic stretches and mobilisations (literally any basic rotation or stretching movements can suffice here, stuff you would do instinctively) in the natural breaks that occur in the game (particularly respawn queue, but also between map change, warm-up period, etc). This isn't a replacement for stretching regimens that you would set time aside for, but it can be very useful as a supplement to those routines, especially for people who struggle to remember/lack discipline when it comes to stretching routines.

Unsorted:
Groups + bracket: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bmvodfydegccp35/i63_kaidus_POVs_groups%2Bbracket.rar?dl=0
Grand Final: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g4ws8ngmd24f28t/i63finalsdemos.rar?dl=0

I tried to remove the dozens of garbage 2 minute demos from main tournament. All the matches should be there but if I missed anything then drop me a message, it will be on my PC somewhere. GF has all the garbage cause I just dumped the whole folder after the game.

Pretending for a moment that this isn't outright ridiculous, I feel like some of the 500+ words spent justifying this decision should have been used to legislate how the rule actually functions. It's called "the salary cap rule", but nowhere does it mention what the cap actually is. How much earnings did froyotech have to accrue for this rule to come into effect? How much does another team need to win before this rule will also apply to them?

Furthermore; in the case of froyotech, does this rule only apply to their RGL rostered players, or does it cover their ESEA roster as well? How about garbuglio and cookiejake from i63? Does this apply to froyotech's newly rostered players for the upcoming ESEA season? How long do the players have to be separate for before they are no longer considered team mates and can play together again? How many matches does a player have to play with a team before they are considered part of the core roster and are subject to this rule? What if froyotech create a new RGL line up in-keeping with whatever rules have been decided regarding the aforementioned issues, and then go on to dominate? At what point are those players no longer able to play together? What happens when you get through a few cycles of dominance and you have a group of 20+ players that are not allowed to play together?

If the answer to any of these issues is admin discretion based on perceived level of dominance, have you considered how this will impact the integrity of matches going forward? How will you ensure that a dominant team does not artificially close the gap in map/series wins by throwing rounds in what would otherwise be comfortable victories so as to create the impression of close competition and avoid being subject to this ruling?

To be clear, I think this rule is fundamentally against the spirit of any competitive discipline, and makes a mockery of the players and teams involved. At the end of the day though it is your league and you can do what you want, but if you are going to do it then at the very least do the prerequisite groundwork.

If anyone is genuinely suggesting that froyo should disband "for the greater good" you might as well write TF2 off there and then. The most satisfying part of watching any esport is seeing the titans finally get toppled, if you forcibly/willingly gimp the best team to artificially create closer competition then any victory will be hollow and undeserved. Watching a Mickey Mouse competition where teams no longer do everything in their power to be the best will not do anything to boost interest/viewership. It will happen eventually, whether that's due to waning interests/other commitments arising for froyo players or the rest of the scene upping their game over time, it will happen and it will be have been worth the wait. From an outsider perspective I think the NA scene is in transition at the moment. Half the players on the #2 team this season are new to being the main rivals of froyo, it's clear a lot of them put in a lot of effort but improvement doesn't happen overnight. I only watch NA TF2 every so often, but the improvement that players like aim have achieved over the past year or so is very promising. This was a particularly grim final but it doesn't accurately represent the skill gap between #1 and #2 - there is a gap don't get me wrong, but the final result is not representative of how large that gap currently is. Having said all that, even if froyo go on to win every ESEA season until the game finally dies, it will still be better than compromising the integrity of the competition as at least the victories are still meaningful and indicative of who the best players and teams are, which is the entire point of any competitive competition.

My thoughts on the recent events and a statement on Credu's loadout:
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqkb1j

Professional PC user over here (fixed).