Here are my thoughts (if anyone cares):

What BUDSQUAD did is no problem at all. This is open playoffs and apparently top Open teams get moved to Main at the end of the season...so a team doing their best to compete, whatever the cost, is just fine. How could anyone argue against that? Top Open has changed quite a bit, and the best team in Open could easily be top 3 in Main, so what type of competition do Open players expect? Sorry that the Broncos are in your division, Raiders, but you're going to have to beat them at some point if you want to win big (lol sports).

Also, people need to stop with this "invite players in Open" shit. Have you seen who's played in invite so far in our 15 seasons? If you have a pulse and $50 dollars in your pocket, you can play invite. So, seeing "invite capable players" in lower divisions is inevitable. The game is flooded with ex-invite talent.

Having said that, I do hope some iteration of BUDSQUAD continues on next season. I really hate seeing good players play in Open/IM/Main "for fun", and then everyone leaves to join other rosters. That hurts the game and community as a whole. Right now, our competitive scene lacks good teams who stick together, but props to Rent-a-Homies, Street Hoops, and other teams like them!

So yeah, I hope seanbud or lange or cyzer keep some part of the roster alive in whatever division they play in next season because that is okay in my book. Same goes to Quantum Flux and AG Main and whoever else falls in that category.

we arent dead

I think AG picking up half of Watch This was just a tad bit more fucked up than Seanbud playing scout.

Here's my two cents:

This is tf2 competitive. This means you play to win while having a good time. When the stakes are high however, people will do what it takes to win. If that means playing a class you're better at, people will do it. It was a very close match between budsquad and meat market, and am looking forward to the grand finals

yo you better watch your fucking mouth puff. thin ice young man.

if main is higher than intermediate, can some please explain to me how winning open constitutes you a spot in main?!

apparently its like top 4 open teams get moved to main?

I asked killing what was the point in playing in IM if top IM and top open teams goto Main? Like something seems flawed here, right?

Teams aren't stable enough, so the best teams in Open (which are often Main-capable anyway) get moved up along with the best in IM. Even then, other teams will need to be moved up.

Unless this is just how ESEA is supposed to work. Then they're dumb.

idk i feel like top 4 of open wont be moved up unless it was stated elsewhere. To me it was only top 4 of open was moved up because they needed to create a league (main). now that said league is created, say 3 teams stay in main, why would 4 move up from open leaving 2 for im. doesn't make sense to me

What if, and I mind you this is purely hypothetical, half of Main are currently dead?

the problem with main is that we don't do movedowns because of poor peformance in invite so instead of actually molding main into what it's supposed to be (really good teams that aren't quite ready for invite, and teams that have had a shot at invite but weren't at that level yet) we wind up with main teams that wouldn't even be dominant in IM.

main's supposed to be the middle ground of move ups and move downs that are trying to get their shit together for invite, not a flood of teams from open/im @_@

marma I don't think you're quite right about "we wind up with main teams that wouldn't even be dominant in IM" The only team that would almost certainly lose to the top IM teams is animus victoria, I can say confidently that, when all the teams were alive in Main, 9 out of 10 of them would be able to dominate IM pretty easily. Not only that, I can say without a doubt that the top 4 main teams would do / will do well in invite. On another note, you guys shouldn't bash open moveups, I thought it was a bad idea at the start but they proved to be really good competitors when they don't die. Literally everyone in main was very competiive except animus victoria. Just go to our record in the beginning of the season. 4 of the 8 matches we played were 5-4's, then like every team died rip.

Main was awesome, I don't give a fuck if my team went 5-11. I learned a shitload from this past season and we're sticking around.

And I agree with what serv0 said, I think any mid Main team would have dominated a relatively weak IM this past season.

ded

my balls smell like feces, pls help?

gg to both teams in the LB final. That was a really exciting match to watch. Good luck next season, I hope both teams continue to show us awesome TF2 matches.

4-5 was the story of my season

http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=news&d=comments&id=13609
TF2 Main (North America) - The top 8 intermediate playoff teams and the top 3 open playoff teams were moved up, teams marked dead were removed and must start in open

if budsquad doesnt play does this mean flash still gets main?