After a three month break and the return of the ozfortress winter league (OWL), Oceania’s premier TF2 competition is back. OZF 32 is already promising to be exciting with the highest number of teams signed up to compete across the four divisions that ozfortress has seen since season 29 back in September of 2020. On top of that, this season is new head administrator core’s first season in the role and on top of that, the competition especially at the summit is looking more ferocious than ever.
Here’s a look at the Premier division in OZF 32.
soirée
- Scout: cooki
- Scout: AiShou
- Roamer: silvo
- Pocket: riot
- Demoman: enrith
- Medic: lau
soirée have been the team to beat in Australian TF2 over the past 12 months. Since their formation prior to OZF 29 (in which they toppled the previously dominant happy feet in the final), they have won every ozfortress competition they have entered, with a virtual trophy cabinet that includes ISOLATION DEVASTATION 2020, OZF 29, OZF 30 and the ozfortress Summer Cup 2021. Over these four event wins, soirée have lost only two maps in total, boasting a very impressive 59/2 map win-loss ratio. After taking a break during OZF 31, it seems they decided to get the band back together this season with their latest addition in AiShou. The former happy feet Combo Scout has made the move over to his former rivals, now in the Flank Scout role replacing the departing down. Between their star-studded roster, incredible stats and stacked trophy cabinet, soirée are surely looking like the favourites to take out the season and establish an era much like the Team Immunity and Jasmine Tea of old.
Commenting on the differences between this roster and the last, team captain cooki had this to say:
Offloading a certain geriatric from our roster has done wonders for our team spirit - we're excited to no longer be part retirement home part tf2 team.
X-files
- Scout: teejay
- Scout: Elmo.
- Roamer: HERTZ
- Pocket: down
- Demoman: Doge.exe has stopped working
- Medic: conor
The second seeded team sees a former soirée player in down and the returning HERTZ co-captain a side that are looking to put a dent in soirée’s hopes for a title. HERTZ’s latest appearance in an OZF season was back in May of 2020 in Season 28. He has since served a one year ban for reaching the infraction point limit in ozfortress and now looks to return straight to where he left, the top. Immediately upon return he joined forces with down and redcoatzygote to form sad hands to compete in the ozfortress winter league in which they managed to take out an impressive second place finish, showing that there are no signs of rust from HERTZ. With added star power in Elmo., Doge and teejay and the up and coming conor on medic, X-Files certainly look like a team capable of toppling their powerful rivals.
A very focused and competitive HERTZ had this to say about his new roster:
LFTF2PLAYERSTHATPLAYRUSTTOFARMFORUS
xeno
- Scout: heebs
- Scout: .pandemic
- Roamer: feyn
- Pocket: ALT
- Demoman: matttt
- Medic: omni
A familiar name to many Oceania players, xeno have returned to the ozfortress seasonal league after resurrecting themselves for the ozfortress Winter League 2021, however this iteration of the team bears little resemblance to the xeno rosters of past seasons. Prior to OWL 2021, xeno had not fielded a roster in an ozfortress event since OZF 23, and from that squad the only returning face is captain and Soldier main turned Demoman matttt. A respectable 4th place finish in the stacked Division 1 of OWL 2021 has seen them seeded third in the Premier division for OZF 32. After a narrow loss in the OWL Semi-Finals to sad hands, xeno are looking like a promising team in OZF 32, already winning their first match. xeno are looking like a possible Grand Final contender this season, and are surely going to be a team to keep an eye on.
When we reached out to matttt for a quote, he has this to say
FEYNTRAIN
Bad Dentists
- Scout: takeyon
- Scout: atten
- Roamer: Raelen
- Pocket: yachty
- Demoman: mef
- Medic: essence
Taking the fourth seed this season is the newly formed Bad Dentists featuring a core of players who played together under the name rhombus craniums and a collection of players picked from other Premier teams in OZF31. The scout combo of atten and takeyon is a duo of players who have been around the fringes of the Premier division for several seasons now, as is Demoman and Roamer mef and Raelen respectively. yachty and essence have been fixtures in the top division for some time now, both managing some very respectable finishes in Premier seasons gone by. What with the combination of a high level of deathmatch ability and unpredictability from this roster, Bad Dentists might be a wild card team to keep and eye on this season.
When asked for a quote, team captain yachty pertly asserted:
through the power of god and anime we will come 3rd inshallah
updog
- Scout: lunar
- Scout: precious.
- Roamer: rintincan
- Pocket: mix
- Demoman: adolo
- Medic: 80T1CUS
updog is a newly-formed team for OZF 32, with their players coming from many different previous teams. Captained by Soldier duo rintincan and mix, updog will be fighting an uphill battle this season in Premier as the second lowest seeded team in the division. Despite this, the team is composed of players who are familiar with the grind of being a low Premier team and are hungry to improve and compete with the teams above them on the ladder. They are scrimming regularly against the likes of xeno and Bad Dentists, and will be looking to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with this season.
Team captain mix certainly doesn't have mixed feelings going into the season:
This team was spat out by a supercomputer fed nothing but bones pug logs from the past year and if we don't come 4th place my tf2 legacy will be ruined
ad hominem attack
- Scout: ayr
- Scout: decap
- Roamer: BONKITUP123
- Pocket: Tesla
- Demoman: Trumpet
- Medic: samson
Returning to Prem this season is ad hominem attack after a three season break from action. This team, in one form or another has existed since August 2017 all the way back in OZF 20 Their revamped roster sees only samson and Trumpet keep their spots from the last time out although Trumpet hasn’t a core fixture in their roster since OZF 25. Interestingly this season sees the return of one of their original six from all those years ago, Tesla and the reintroduction of decap who last played for ad hom in OZF 24. Although (perhaps unluckily) seeded last in Premier this season, ad hominem attack certainly have the fire power to be able to compete with the other Premiership teams this season and will I’m sure be looking to secure points from teams throughout the division this year.
Clearly happy about the new reign of core in ozfortress, samson added:
fuck catfish
As always, there are multiple places to catch the action from OZF 32 Prem this season including KritzKast, the quid stream and of course, CappingTV. Tune into the games each week and until then, watch this space for more Australasian content.
This article was written collaboratively between catfish and Zildjian. catfish covered soirée, xeno and updog while Zildjian covered X-Files, Bad Dentists, ad hominem attack and dealt with the quotes.