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ETF2L Autumn '22 Premiership Qualifiers
posted in News
JMaxchill
October 9, 2022

It's time for another round of ETF2L Premiership Qualifiers! Six teams who dream about playing among Europe's elite are about to go through a grueling gauntlet where any defeat will send them packing to Division 1. The games will kick off with elimination matches between the four lowest ranked teams; the winners of those games will then advance to the qualification matches proper where they'll face off against the two highest seeds in winner-takes-all games. Let's meet the ambitious players hoping to take one of those coveted spots.

Better Coleslaw

  • Pocket Scout: Lupus
  • Flank Scout: BeaVerN
  • Roamer: Phnx
  • Pocket: Poison
  • Demoman: Yohn
  • Medic: Marten

Built around a Bus Crew engine, Better Coleslaw is a team filled with veterans of the highest division and so is hopefully less likely to succumb to the pressure inherent to the Qualifiers. Most of this roster has not been in Premiership for over a year now however, so they might also need some de-rusting. Their first game pits them against ComedyShortsGaming, who look superior on paper, and Better Coleslaw will need to deal with their aggression as well as showing that they have a few tricks up their own sleeves in order to get a result.

Yohn, Marten and Poison are all core members of the Bus Crew since season 29, and have all been last seen at the bus stop in Prem during season 38, where they finished in 7th. The combo is rounded out by Lupus, who is surely itching to get back into Premiership after a 22-seasons-long absence. Watching the flanks will be BeaVerN and Phnx, and while BeaVerN needs no introduction any more, Phnx is the surprise of the roster, being more known for Pocket Scouting than roaming. They have a mean sniper though, so they can always fall back to that should the coleslaw turn sour.

Fuck Da Process

  • Pocket Scout: hemp
  • Flank Scout: pandemic
  • Roamer: slesh
  • Pocket: Jordy
  • Demoman: Derpy Hooves
  • Medic: Doughy

Direct successors of trust the process, a team who placed sixth during Season 40, Fuck Da Process is a team with a few names that should sound familiar. After their first stint in the top flight, they made some slight adjustments to their roster and set out to conquer Division 1, falling just short to azn's team in the Grand Final. The team then took a season off but managed to retain four players from S41 for this season, offering them a strong base to build on. Fuck Da Process will be facing off first against COOL AND GOOD VIBES, and are probably favourites -- their previous record in qualifiers, though, is 0/2, something that could gnaw on the back of their heads.

Doughy, Derpy Hooves and Jordy have been playing together for a long time now, foming a cohesive and reactive unit. hemp will also re-unite with her combo after some impressive performances last season with NOOBPANZER. The two new additions are pandemic and slesh. pandemic is a name that intercontinental viewers might recognize, as they are one of the few players to play in Asia, Europe and Oceania. Finally, slesh comes in as the winner of S42's Debut of the Season award, and eager to show more.

SVIFT

  • Pocket Scout: shappie
  • Flank Scout: $neaky
  • Roamer: Warped
  • Pocket: danny
  • Demoman: mak
  • Medic: gragery

Once a common name to see in top divisions around the world, SVIFT had been enjoying a quiet rebuild in Division 1 when Insomnia69 threw them back on the main stage stage as the fourth team in the invite group. The skill gap with the other three teams was too large to let them do anything but fight valiantly, but rubbing shoulders with the world's best seems to have made them keen. After some recruitment and a successful off-season letting them avoid Round 1 of the Qualifiers, SVIFT is one win away from returning to Prem for the first time in over two years.

New recruits mak and Warped will hopefully be able to inject some top-level experience into their new team. mak, on top of being a Premiership winner, is fresh off England's recent win in the latest Nations Cup, while Warped will be able to show off some cool new wallbugs as the new Roamer. Scout duo shappie and $neaky will be continuing to play together, keeping the good run of form that they've been having. Rounding up the roster are gragery, who sadly did not manage to attend i69 despite their best efforts, and stalwart danny, now in their fifth season of captaining SVIFT.

2038

  • Pocket Scout: Nevo
  • Flank Scout: Ama
  • Roamer: Corbac
  • Pocket: scar
  • Demoman: Elacour
  • Medic: patchouli

In the far away future of 2038, there are only French people left. Another fully French team, 2038 features a wide array of talented players from the land of the guillotine, all veterans not just of Premiership but of playoffs. Their star power alone was enough to let them avoid the first round of the qualifiers, but it remains to be seen if those six individually skilled players can cohere into a team in time to reach Prem.

Nevo and Ama will return as the scouts as on Ora Elektro during Seasons 39 and 40, ultimately reaching second place in the latter. Historical members of top5rocket, Elacour and Corbac were last seen alongside patchouli last season, although they were forced to drop out of it after the azn ban. The odd one out, scar has never been on a full French Prem team, opting instead to hone their craft with teams like new team and The League Of Shadows, notably achieving 3rd place with them last season and now back for more with the team that (on paper) should be the favourites to qualify.

COOL AND GOOD VIBES

  • Pocket Scout: senko
  • Flank Scout: Nintails
  • Roamer: coyo
  • Pocket: mix
  • Demoman: Philip
  • Medic: KO

Entering the first round of qualifying, COOL AND GOOD VIBES are shooting for the stars off the back of a sixth place finish in S42’s Division 1. Their roster has been tweaked a little but the core remains unchanged: Nintails, mix and KO continue as Flank Scout, Pocket and Medic, with coyo moving from Pocket Scout to Roamer, as the former class isn’t a class they have played at or near the top before; rather than find another Premiership-level Roamer they’ve elected to make the switch with an eye to keeping the synergy built last season.

Filling the gaps left by this and by eepily’s departure, then, are Pocket Scout senko and Demo Philip, both reprising their roles from the recent Nations’ Cup #9. senko is by far the lesser known of the two, looking now to move up to Premiership after several years in and around Division 2, while Philip returns from Season 41’s wer das liest ist doof. Having narrowly missed out on playoffs that time, the bar is now much lower: with low expectations and high ambition, though, this isn't a team to be ignored.

ComedyShortsGaming

  • Pocket Scout: amppis
  • Flank Scout: Nicky
  • Roamer: haunts
  • Pocket: Charlie
  • Demoman: Fancy
  • Medic: thedog

ComedyShortsGaming is an interesting team: a roster that has barely played together before, but who have individually not just made Premiership, not just made playoffs, but in the case of amppis and Nicky (aka AMS and YeeHaw) have won the whole damn thing. On Pocket and Flank Scouts, these two are a formidable duo, backed up by Pocket Charlie, Roamer haunts and Medic thedog (aka Condawg), all mainstays of Premiership and the top of the High tiers. Finally, Demo Fancy is the least tenured on the roster, but boasts a second place finish in S42’s Div 1 and a third place finish in S41’s Premiership.

These are all players that have done it before, frequently against each other, but who now come into the Qualifiers with a lower seed and another chance to be eliminated. Should these names not make it into Prem it would be a surprise, but without the time spent together and the official results it’s impossible to predict. Equally, however, with so many Premiership calibre players and so few matches to win, it’s very possible that someone will pop off and whether it’s a Nicky flank or a thedog Kritzkrieg, this is an exciting team to watch.

This article was written in collaboration with Aelkyr.

1
#1
16 Frags +

Hemp truly did have some impressive performances last season with BOOBPANZER

Hemp truly did have some impressive performances last season with BOOBPANZER
2
#2
9 Frags +

4/36 players in this quals are Turkish - Turkish team fortress scene renaissance?

4/36 players in this quals are Turkish - Turkish team fortress scene renaissance?
3
#3
11 Frags +
rivkaHemp truly did have some impressive performances last season with BOOBPANZER

I swear there's a good reason as to why my spellcheck decided this was a word

[quote=rivka]Hemp truly did have some impressive performances last season with BOOBPANZER[/quote]

I swear there's a good reason as to why my spellcheck decided this was a word
4
#4
-2 Frags +

lets go Greggs

lets go Greggs
5
#5
3 Frags +
AelkyrI swear there's a good reason as to why my spellcheck decided this was a word

aelkyr i fucking trusted you

[quote=Aelkyr]
I swear there's a good reason as to why my spellcheck decided this was a word[/quote]

aelkyr i fucking trusted you
6
#6
4 Frags +

lets go lupus

lets go lupus
7
#7
4 Frags +

hyped for my bestie hempers

hyped for my bestie hempers
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