Competitive TF2 and DreamHack are finally being reunited, and to celebrate this reunion in style, 72 teams have signed up to partake in the Community Clash that will take place over the course of the weekend, and while 64 of them will duke it out for a chance to advance to the knock-out bracket, 8 teams have already been handpicked to play in the Invite Group, where they’ll spend the first day fighting in a round-robin format that will determine their seeding before the second day. Want to find out more info about which team to support? Or just unsure about who’s playing what? Then this article was made for you!

DreamHack and EssentialsTF have teamed up to run this online cup in the time of COVID woes (Graphic courtesy EssentialsTF)

Ascent.NL

• Scout: toemas
• Scout: Thaigrr
• Roamer: kaptain
• Pocket: papi
• Demoman: LUKASTANK
• Medic: klassy

The European powerhouse, currently sitting on top of the ETF2L tables after their win SVIFT earlier this week, will be joining the fray. Ascent.EU have opted for adding a slightly bigger amount of Dutchness than usual in their team, something that I blame on kaptain being in charge of the signup process, but no amount of Oranje is going to stop them from being strong favorites to win the whole tournament, especially after their win against rivals SVIFT on Wednesday, where they looked able to control the tempo of the game very well.

Three-time consecutive Player and Demoman of the Season LUKASTANK is sure to be the anchor of the team. He will be joined in the combo by his pals papi and toemas, on Pocket Soldier and Scout respectively, their shared experience of winning Season 34 and 35 together will surely help them do wonders. Another member of the S34 winning squad is klassy, who opted this season to pick up the medigun instead of the scattergun, and so far has not looked a step out of place, Medic speed nerf be damned. Thaigrr and kaptain will be holding the flank together, for the first time since they were team mates on Se7en. kaptain has recently made the switch to Roamer, making good use of his 85553 Tempus points, and Thaigrr’s constant farming on Scout has made people question if PEDs are not involved in some ways.

SVIFT

• Scout: counou
• Scout: Gazy
• Roamer: nubbi
• Pocket: ever_x
• Demoman: Nas boii
• Medic: seeds

Also heavyweights of the European scene, this iteration of SVIFT is a more recent creations, with promising players and returning legends assembling to claim Season 37 as theirs. Their recent clash against Ascent showed that while the talent was clearly there, they might have lacked a certain killer instinct to push them over the edge. Still, their first confrontation is now behind them, and having hopefully learned from it, they are looking to take their revenge. They have looked very strong against every other team so far, and will have their eyes set on first place.

Nas boii and ever_x were comrades-in-arms within 6ix, ultimately ending their S35 run in second place but showing off their crisp mechanical skills acquired in countless PUGs. Another member of that squad is making his return: nubbi, who was kept busy by VALORANT, managed to free up a week-end to replace _adysky_. Both soldiers are known to be very creative in their plays, so as long as nubbi can shake off any rust he might’ve picked up, he should be able to slot right back in. The Scout pair is made up of title holder counou and relentless flanker Gazy, the two of them also possessing fearsome offclass capabilities on Sniper and Pyro respectively. Positional mastermind and uber-building aficionado seeds is rounding up the roster, eager to prove that he’s Europe’s best medic.

FAINT Gaming EU

• Scout: voxtec
• Scout: YeeHaw
• Roamer: Opti
• Pocket: Hugo
• Demoman: mak
• Medic: vani

Currently one of the two teams still unbeaten in ETF2L Premiership this season, Faint’s consistency has established that there are more than two horses in the race for first place. While they dispatched every opponent they faced without too much difficulty, they are yet to face either SVIFT or Ascent, and this cup will surely prove to be their first real test, and with the level of focus and dedication that they put in so far, they surely don’t expect to be swept away.

The scout duo of Faint, made up of voxtec and YeeHaw, is able to hang with the best in term of pure DM ability at least, thanks to the time they put in on Quake Promod and DM servers respectively. Men and beast alike fear mak’s menacing moves, especially the ‘sticky trap’ and the “spam pipes”. One of the most experienced Medics in Prem, vani has put all of that experience to good use when the Medic plugin got introduced this season and is as such very hard to catch out. Opti’s eye for airshots is well known by now, but him and Hugo have really stepped up their simultaneous bombs to the next level recently, with often devastating results regardless of the map.

3 frenchies is the winning number

• Scout: Silentes
• Scout: slemnish
• Roamer: dmoule
• Pocket: Josh
• Demoman: amarok
• Medic: mulaa

The only Invite team that is not currently playing in Season 37, 3 frenchies is the winning number are here to prove a specific theory regarding the nationality of players. With half of the team being made up of the winning nerdRage squad from last season as well as a pair of Scouts that competed at a high level on different continents, they are determined to show that a lack of recent practice is not going to slow them down.

Josh and dmoule will reprise their Pocket and Roamer slots that they have been using ever since their LEGO days, and with whom they recently won Premiership with. slemnish, joining all the way from NA, has shown that high ping does not stop him when he reached second place with SVIFT last season. Taking a small break from his VALORANT career, Silentes occupies the second Scout role. More known for his prowess on Soldier, he has played the speedy Bostonian when he was first reaching the top level, and maybe the lack of projectile weapons in VALORANT has converted him to the hitscan side of the Force. Also more known for being the Pocket on Ora Elektro (so really, this team is 4 soldier mains in a trenchcoat), amarok had impressed during Season 32 with l'En Avant de Guingamp, his only demo season to date. Finally, mulaa had a meteoric rise, going from making his Prem debut in Season 32 to winning Season 36.

The Bus Crew

• Scout: aidelos
• Scout: kaper
• Roamer: jeven
• Pocket: Warped
• Demoman: misha Ybg
• Medic: Marten

The Bus Crew is going to make a two-day stop at DreamHack, and hope to enjoy their stay as much as possible. With a strong record against teams from the lower half of Prem, as well as the team play needed, in theory, to overcome mix teams, they’ll hope for a deep run in the tournament, with an upset against the bigger teams on the horizon.

Keen eyes will have spotted a change over the roster actually competing in ETF2L, as deli will be swapped out for misha Ybg, also known as nation. The Czech Demoman is a real jack-of-all-trades, having already played Scout and Soldier in the top flight, the former also on The Bus Crew. The rest of the roster remains unchanged. Known for his strong dodging capacity as well as being the only member of the first Bus Crew left, marten will be looking to show off his amazing fashion sense. Warped and aidelos will round out the combo, both of them already being used to playing TF2 for 7 hours in a row as they were a part of the Bus Crew LAN team at i65. kaper and jeven were the Compound’s flank that won Division 1 in Season 35, and ever since they have been re-united, they have been experts at getting behind the enemy.

KRITZBERG FOR DEFENCE

• Scout: BeaVerN
• Scout: paparazi
• Roamer: Bonkers
• Pocket: wonszu
• Demoman: stan
• Medic: Graba

An alliance of Premiership veterans and less-known players, the mainly Polish side has surprised some after their strong start in ETF2L Season 37, having already taken 11 points out of their three fixtures against opponents also predicted to finish in the lower half of the leaderboard. They did not manage to get points out of any top side they met so far, but their only encounter was during the first week, and so this cup will be a perfect opportunity for them to showcase that they’ve improved and are ready for the next level.

BeaVerN is the only player not hailing from Poland in the roster. With a Premiership career starting 25 seasons ago during Season 12, he certainly brings a lot of experience to the table and he’ll be eager to show that he can still do it like in Prem by CUBE. Paparazi and Bonkers are relatively unknown to casual watchers, but both of them have a wealth of experience in the lower divs, with Bonkers even winning High against a certain team called top5rocket and having played already i the top Division in Season 19. Graba and Wonszu have already played together in Prem with Wonderland, back in Season 21, and have used their shared history to make a very solid combo. Last but not least, stan has been playing the game for a shorter period of time than anyone else on the roster, but that didn’t stop him from winning Div 2 with The Compound, nor does it stop his devastating demo bombs.

new team

• Scout: flick
• Scout: unikeko
• Roamer: scar
• Pocket: charlie
• Demoman: Cuby
• Medic: Jorge

new team had kind of a rough start to the season, having to play the top 3 teams in the first four weeks, but they did not manage to fully convince during their only match against opponents of a similar level. With the end of the season looking crucial for teams that are in a relegation battle, new team will be surely taking the opportunity to gauge their rivals, as well as trying to rebound from their complicated start in a new, fresh setting.

There has been some debate recently about the optimal number of French people in one team, and scar and Cuby have been making a strong case for the number 2 with their projectile aim mastery and aggressiveness. unikeko is another Finnish flank scout, so you can expect such things like perfect tracking, frag clips with electronic music in the background and Sniper offclasses out of him. flick and charlie will be on Pocket Scout and Soldier respectively. A relative newcomer to Prem, flick has been able to adapt to the new level of play required of him quite handily, while on the other hand charlie’s knowledge of the game thanks to countless Division 1 seasons have made him very proficient in leading from the front. To conclude the roster, Jorge is gonna make sure everyone stays healthy. An expert in negotiating good trades, he is no stranger to online cups, placing 3rd during the original Lockdown Throwdown with 6ix.

Alvin and the Britmunks

• Scout: alv
• Scout: smile
• Roamer: coyo
• Pocket: Matthes
• Demoman: ALX1
• Medic: auto

Almost entirely made up of newcomers to Premiership, Alvin and the Britmunks have shown a lot of resilience over the course of the season so far, making enemy teams work hard to defeat them, but at the same time sometimes failing to capitalize on good situations they create. Having recently lost to The Bus Crew in a match that had them look dangerous for a vast majority of it and yet walking away without any points, they’ll be eager to use this cup to show that they can take home some wins.

Frontman alv has made a gigantic leap from playing in Low (where he got second place last season) to playing in Prem, but has been up to the task so far. Moving over from both GlobalClan.EU and Demoman for the cup, smile will start on Pocket Scout in an exciting crossover ALX1, also known as Derpy Hooves, is reputed for his trade-marked cross-eyed stare, dressing up as “paper bags” for Halloween and his constant output of explosive damage from afar. Matthes is the only one on the team who made Premiership playoffs back during Season 32. Him and coyo seemingly bonded over MGE sessions, and their coordinated bombs are often devastating. Lastly but not leastly, auto has impressed by his movement, being more slippery than a snake and with surfs that would not look out of place in Hawaii, all of that in spite of being of the rookies of the team.

So, to see all these teams brawl it out, be sure to tune in to the Dreamhack Twitch channel! The group stage will be starting at 13:00 CET on Saturday and the playoff Stage will start at 12:30 CET Sunday. For more details, check out the official thread