The ozfortress winter league (OWL) 14 is nearly over, but the best is yet to come. Oh yes, while the lower divisions have come to a close, the Premier Grand Final is just around the corner. Let's take a look at the contenders and their journey to the Grand Final.

Upper Bracket Final

Having scrimmed regularly against each other all season, Team Impunity faced Pump n' Dump, having just defeated Andy C Appreciation Society and Die respectively. Impunity came in as favorites, overcoming a long history of ex-iM player dominance. Snakewater was the first map, picked by Impunity. Pump n’ Dump convincingly won the map with a result of 5-1 off the back of a monstrous 29-7-11, 397 dpm termo. Pump n’ Dump picked Gullywash, a tightly fought 4-2 taken by Impunity after recovering from a 2 round deficit. Carrying on their momentum, Impunity cleanly swept Granary Pro with dominant performances from scouts Madness` and Elmo, while Geoh proved he was a force to be reckoned with when given 44% of his team's heals. Pump n’ Dump had been knocked to the Lower Bracket.

Lower Bracket Final

Many in the Australian scene believed the 88% odds of Pump n' Dump to win overestimated the favorites given Die's rise through the division and Pump n' Dump's inability to respond to the Impunity freight train. However, the force of the new aporia-yuki combo proved to be too much, as Pump n’ Dump scooped up victory on Product in a 16 minute 3-0 win. Die were keen to get back on their feet on Sunshine, but were knocked to the ground, losing 7-2. Relative newcomer Jersh demonstrated his transition from combo to flank was a smooth one, while Smauglet's movement consistently proved too much for Die, who alongside scout partner Sam. racked up the frags. Pump n’ Dump had earned themselves a spot in the Grand Final.

Roster Changes

Originally, eps roamed for Pump n’ Dump, covering for legendary roamer aporia while he was away. However, as seen in the Lower Bracket Final, Jersh and aporia have swapped roles, with aporia now on pocket and Jersh on roamer. Furthermore, termo is in Europe, causing yuki to take up the demoman class that he was so dominant on many years ago. This forced Smauglet off the bench to fill the open scout position. What a rollercoaster roster!

• Sam. (scout)
• Smauglet (scout)
• Jersh (soldier)
• aporia (soldier)
• yuki (demoman)
• Cubby/Q (medic)

Team Impunity has had only one roster change; pr1med transferring from the Pump n' Dump bench to replace SoLe as roamer, but word is SoLe will be returning to the team in the near future.

• Madness` (scout)
• Elmo. (scout)
• pr1med (soldier)
• Geoh (soldier)
• Paulsen (demoman)
• Brutalix` (medic)

The Grand Final

Not to be deterred by their loss in the Upper Bracket Final, Pump n’ Dump return to the stage to verse Team Impunity in the Grand Final. We should expect plenty of exciting action between the two best teams that Australia has to offer. Following from i55, OWL 14 will conclude its Premier division with a Best of 5 Grand Final. The maps to be played are Product, Snakewater, Badlands, Gullywash and Sunshine, with the match starting at midday CEST (6am EST or 8pm AEST). Don't miss it!

ozfortress league ruleset changes

In this season of ozfortress winter league, the scene has moved from an American-like ruleset to one that resembles European TF2. Although some of the competitive benefits of the halves format were lost, matches are now considerably shorter (previously, Best of 3 matches could last up to 3 hours). This made also made the upcoming Best of 5 Grand Final possible, allowing Pump n' Dump and Team Impunity to show the best Oceanic TF2 has to offer on a wide range of maps.

ozfortress took the opportunity to test weapon pickups in OWL 14 to see its effect in a 6s environment. However, the criticism of the international 6s community was all but confirmed, with the medigun pickups breaking Product in particular. As such, ozfortress has banned weapon pickups, much to the relief of the Premier teams. With matchmaking just around the corner, it will be interesting to see how Valve responds to the testing by ozfortress and other communities.