Should b4nny be allowed to quit invite, and play in Open? Yes. Should he be allowed to form a team with 4 or 5 other Invite level players? No.
My gripe isn't against the openness of Open, it's the stacking and sandbagging. Invite players can totally come down and join open level teams. No issue there. But when they stack a single team, just so they face no real competition? No. That's what I'm against here.

Not when they run spy, sniper, and pyro to mid.

Well, I expected hostility. Glad someone here was able to meet my expectations.

People don't get to invite for being bad at the game. They get there for being good, and having more experience than your average competitive player. Having one or even two ex-invite players per team in Open is totally fine, but to have a team comprised almost entirely of people that have played at the highest level of TF2? I don't see how any of that is fine.

ESEA Open is supposed to be open for everyone to play and compete in, given the name. If you're an amazing player, you start in Open, and climb the ranks. Nothing wrong with that.
What I'm essentially bitching about is the fact that ESEA just casually allows people from Invite to essentially say "Meh, fuck it" and come back down to Open just because the competition is easier. Stacking a team with players that have played at invite shouldn't be allowed, and it doesn't promote competition. Players that are doing it just for the easy money, have absolutely no respect from me. And come on, if you're stacking an open team, you're doing it for the money.

This isn't UGC guys. Sandbagging in a paid league is just rotten.

Also, I never expected to win Open, or even come close to it. I just want fair competition, and a chance to learn and grow as a player. I'm not entitled to anything here, so stop with that shit. I just don't find it fair that 5 players that previously played at the highest level of ESEA, should be allowed to play on a team together at the lowest level of ESEA. Players that stack like that are doing it for one of two reasons. Easy money, or they simply don't want competition. Either way, it's bullshit.

Seriously, what's the deal with that? The team we faced had 5 ex-invite players on the roster. They bm'd hard.
Is ESEA Open basically UGC at this point? What the hell? Why does sandbagging have to exist? Like, wtf dude.

He's been really solid with us so far. Haven't seen any tilting from him, and his comms have been very clean and direct. He has brought up some valid criticisms during our scrims, but mostly as a way to correct mistakes made by the other members.
He also hasn't brought this up with me yet, though I'm certain he will talk about my rather poor scout performance, as far as dpm goes.
Here's our most recent scrim - http://logs.tf/1633557#76561197999339627

I'll definitely keep an eye out for tilting, but from what I've seen from him so far, I'm not too worried right now. Really proud to have him on the roster, and am looking forward to seeing where he and I can take this team.

Hey guys! So, my team's still in the process of rebuilding our roster. We've been cycling players around a lot lately, and think we've found a pretty solid lineup with everyone feeling at home on their new and respective classes.
However, with the roster cycling, it left us lacking a quality combo scout.

If you're interested in playing combo for us, please message me on TFTV, or add me as a friend on Steam.

Flank Scout: Sidular
Combo Scout: OPEN
Roamer: Kylor
Pocket: skateboard pete
Demoman: Azion
Medic: Sama

We got rolled our first two matches, primarily because of a general disorganization and lack of calling and team play. We've made some changes since then, including putting Azion on Demo, and bringing skateboard pete in on pocket and main caller. The current roster seems pretty solid, and we just need that final scout to lock things in place.

I don't see us making playoffs, but reaching high open is definitely possible.

https://play.esea.net/teams/138675

Nor do I really want to replace ESEA. ESEA's basically the biggest thing we've got right now, and I don't see TFCL replacing ESEA any time soon. I mean, if we get thousands upon thousands of dollars in sponsorships, then I can see it maybe having an impact on ESEA. But like, let's be real here, that's not going to happen for years, if at all.

Ultimately, TFCL is a league where everyone can come and play for money or prizes, without any upfront fees or premium memberships. You simply come in, create or join a team, and compete just like you would in another league. Except with TFCL, you get both medals as well as prizes.
Also trying to make TFCL a great introductory place for players new to competitive TF2. Once we get some teams and more support from the community, there will be an entire division dedicated to teaching the newer guys how to play their chosen format and class. A sort of coaching service built into the platform itself.
Then there's also the automated scrim thing, due out this March. Let's face it, newer teams can have difficulty finding scrims each week. Creating a scrim service that's built right into the league itself is my way of hopefully simplifying the whole process for newer teams and players, while also adding an extra convenience for seasoned teams just looking to get their scrim on.

So, to compare TFCL with ESEA really isn't fair, as I'm trying to create something completely new and different. Sure, it's still a league by the end of the day, but if I can offer a service that makes it easier for newer players to jump into the competitive community, shouldn't I try to do that?

Also, if TFCL were to replace any single league, it would likely be UGC. UGC is a pretty barebones league, and they're not really going out of their way to draw in new players, and teach them the ropes of TF2. Their administrators are also said to be rather unprofessional at times, if not outright abusive. It's pretty much a common consensus that UGC isn't the greatest league for newer players to start out in, but there isn't really another alternative aside from a paid league such as ESEA. So, I created that alternative.

Besides, if for some odd reason TFCL never takes off as a serious 6v6 league, I can always just host regulated bball and ultiduo tournaments, with prizes and medals. Those are always popular, and the upcoming second season of Ultiduo already has some big names attending, so it's sure to be a great and fun season for everyone involved. The first season had b4nny and nursey take the title, and the prize. Hopefully this upcoming season will bring with it a bit more competition, largely because of the higher prize and extra promotion on both TFTV and the official TF2 blog.

TFCL is still a bit messy under the hood, given as how it's still technically an alpha right now. But aside from some odd mechanic design choices, we're already offering a full TF2 league, even as we stand right now. TFCL is more or less at the same feature level as UGC, and we're nowhere near being finished. There's just so much more to add, and so much more that we can do to enhance the competitive TF2 experience.

Also, in regards to Faceit. I don't really see them as any kind of real competition for TFCL, ESEA, or even UGC. If anything, Faceit is a potential threat to TF2 Center, or one of the other pug services out there, like mix champ. Though, it is worth mentioning that TFCL will have a similar service, albeit one intended only for smaller games, like MGE or bball. The original intention with a TFCL pug-like service wasn't really to compete against faceit, but more as a way to answer a question we've been asking for a long ass time; how do we host MGE tournaments, and not have them be cancer to administrate? The answer was a live 'channel' or 'room' that automates the entire process, with the help of a server plugin. You join the channel, and it puts you into a server. Once you're in the server, you fight. If you win, you stay in the server, and await your next opponent. If you lose, you're automatically kicked from the server, and your rank on the channel is updated. It just keeps grabbing new players until there are none left. We codenamed this "koth" since that name fits pretty damn well. Kinda figured since we were building this tech anyway, may as well let anyone and everyone create their own channels, essentially turning it into a pug service.

tldr
TFCL is a league designed to help new players into comp TF2, while also offering enough features and services for the more experienced players to use and enjoy. Idea is to fill a niche, while still offering a 'pro' league that has prizes and medals.

Week 1's schedule has been posted to the site.
Also, big ass article here - http://tfcleague.com/2017/02/01/welcome-tfcls-6v6-season/

Season 1 Updates - http://steamcommunity.com/groups/eTFCL#announcements/detail/558845768046520794?tscn=1485904819

In short, Highlander has been cancelled. Also week 1 schedule for 6v6 will be posted tonight around 9 eastern.
Make sure your team is readied up before then if you want to participate in the first match. You can still register your team for week 2, but that lowers your odds of getting into playoffs. So if you miss week 1, you've still got options.

glhf

Well, there goes my childhood. Thanks Disney!

Okay, Purolator just delivered the package today. I asked him why he wasn't able to deliver it on Friday, like he was supposed to. His reason? And I shit you not, this is legit the actual reason.

"I have poor eyesight, and couldn't read the buzzer info."

....

Are you fucking kidding me? The reason Purolator couldn't deliver the package was because the driver couldn't see the buzzer?! Holy scout on a stick, is that the lamest reason ever!

Never. I don't have fun friends :(

How old were you when you joined TFTV?

http://tfcleague.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/UltiduoSeason2.fw_-e1485649379426.png

Soldier + Medic = Love?

The second season of TFCL's Ultiduo is definitely happening, and soon. Just securing some sponsors right now, and will update once I have something more concrete. I'm personally throwing $60 into this, so at the very least, there will be a $60 prize for first place. ($30 per player)

There's about a week left before the start of our first official season. Currently, it looks very likely that the highlander season will be cancelled, since only 3 out of the 23 highlander teams have actually readied up.
As far as 6v6 goes, we've got 11 out of 24 teams readied, so that season is definitely happening. Would love to get 16 teams readied up before January 1st though, so if you haven't readied your team up yet, please do so immediately.

If the highlander season does end up being cancelled, we may host another Ultiduo season. This time, it'll be a 4 week round robin, with two matches per week, followed by a single elimination playoff. Ultimately, I want to have at least two ongoing seasons, for testing purposes. Whether that's highlander and 6v6, or ultiduo and 6v6. Kinda up to you guys.

Our buzzer is completely fine. Even went down there tonight to check, and it's working A-OK. Also, other shipping companies have little to no problem with it, even though they're all given the same exact shipment information / address.
I don't know why Purolator can't figure out how to use a buzzer for an apartment building, but you're right, that's basically what most of the complaints are about.
I'm sure if I lived in a larger city, such as Toronto, I'd have very little to no issues with getting items delivered to me. But instead, I live in a relatively small town, and there's maybe 3 or 4 apartment complexes in the entire town. I'm sure whoever is responsible for delivering packages for my area isn't exactly used to delivering to apartment buildings, so I can sort of see why they'd hesitate to deliver to mine. It's rather stupid to think that they might fear the buzzer, but I can honestly see that being true. Small town, few buildings. I'm basically an alien to them.

When I first moved in here, the super warned us that getting items shipped to our apartment may be difficult. That's one of the primary reasons I rarely shop for physical products online, preferring in-store pickups whenever possible. But like, this is really getting ridiculous. I just wish Purolator would learn how to use a freaking buzzer, so I can shop on Amazon more often. I want to be able to buy the one day shipping option, and actually feel confident that I'll get my item in one day. This was the first time I ever paid extra for express shipping, and unless Purolator is removed as a shipment option from Amazon, I don't see myself ever ordering express shipping again. Too many risks involved, and far too inconvenient in the end. Thankfully though, Amazon appears to blocking Purolator from my account, so I guess in the future, I'll be able to order from them more often. May even get Prime for the Twitch sub and game discount stuff. Prime is gimped to all hell in Canada, so I'm hesitating. But still, it might be useful to have if I can get the bullshit shipping stuff sorted out.