First off i agree 100% that if a team cannot commit to LAN, then they should not go to invite. Invite is meant to hold the most competitive players, and most importantly the one's that want to win, put in the time to win, and have the drive to win.

However, what's the motivation for IM teams if they are going to absolutely get murdered? That's not being competitive - it's simply easy wins for the top teams at this point. Let's take chess club...this is a team that would probably have wiped the floor with IM last season. They have an extremely talented roster, skilled players - they got to the playoffs due to beating the other teams close to their skill level (and FFW's from the teams that died). They made a great effort to compete at LAN, but got stomped....bad. My hat goes off to them more than anyone for sticking it out...but not many people want that scenario. Realistically if they couldn't even win one match against the top 3, and DTP has already said they are just a casual team...you do the math.

The fact is not everyone wants to be invite, or put in the long nights and hardships of becoming a top team. Yes TF2 is different than CS. Is Putting/forcing a good IM team to go invite and potentially getting a record like 0-16 really worth it? Harb, i understand you have fun with your friends...but how do you think the other team feels when your team off-classes 'for fun' in a match and still destroys their team? Also, invite isn't always about fun with friends, because friends get cut or chastised when they under perform - and the whole community then gets to know about it. Not every team wants to go through that.

Since ruwin/pyyour are supposedly gone - why not give 2 top IM level players a chance to join mix?? Would you be willing to go through some growing pains and losses (as well as not winning LAN or potentially even not making playoffs) to help bring in some new blood and build a new team? Or is it easier to get mesr/yz/moose to play and know you'll lock in one of those top spots? Just look at the 2-3 "new teams" forming now- it's still almost all top players split up from last few seasons - and why?? Simply put because they WANT to win and i don't blame any of you for wanting to win. Knowing you have the chance to win and make LAN is what drives some players....but not everyone shares that same desire.

If a team feels they would be more competitive in IM, why force them to move if they don't want to? I mean wasn't there a team like a season or two ago that was begging for votes to get to Invite, and they didn't get in because someone else was moved up??? I'm not trying to give anyone a hard time, you just need to see it from the other side of the fence.

Nicholas "The Fragile" Leon

SHIT wrong forum - save me enigma!

After about 5 seasons of bench-riding due to my personal life (job, parenthood, etc.), I've decided to give TF2 a go one more time now that i have a pretty steady schedule.

I'm thinking about making a team, but if that doesn't pan out - i'd be more than happy to play for an IM/Invite team. Can scout, roam, or pocket. Been pretty active lately and just looking for a group of people that aren't complete spazzes if they lose a match.

For those of you who don't know me, i've been playing tf2 since the first cevo tourney...been through open/im/invite over the years. If anyone's interested in helping to build a solid new IM team let me know - or if any teams are looking for an experienced player hit me up.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4589/segway.jpg

lolz indoor segway course

edit sry didn't realize how blurry that was here's another

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1944/32601671.jpg

I think it's fair to understand that RL things come up. It's a shame they haven't practiced more, especially since LG, mix, and br0 have turned serious mode on the past 2 weeks and have been scrimming a lot. I would say at this point if you guys make anything other than 4th place, it would be a massive upset...and i'm not saying that to be negative, just realistic. To your point 4, you say you have 2 legit losses against the LAN teams - the problem is you have no wins against them. I think that's the main reason why a lot of people are kinda antsy about the situation. LAN is the real time for a team to shine, so i hope you guys pull it together and put on a show. I don't want to see anyone get blown out of the water...the more competitive the more fun it is for everyone.

The only thing i think the community deserves to know is that everyone from your roster is 100% going (if i missed that in a prior post i apologize)- i think it would be a horrible move to pull a last minute "oops i can't make it to LAN"...especially with community donations in the pool. If what kermit's post says is true however, give them a chance and stop with the negativity.

Great work so far guys

edit: didn't see the guys above me mentioned snakewater last cold/warmfront mid. Both are good options - might as well keep map scenarios that you'll see in league play.

I like the idea of snakewater last, as it's height advantage is unique that it's on a slope. I could see that being useful for soldiers learning/perfecting how to aim firing at a downward angle....would really be good training soldier vs scout.

bigpun hands down - when he gets mad you literally feel like the devil is coming for your soul.

Speaking of voices, i'm also 99% convinced boogie and blaze are the same person.

This is beyond sad

Would love to see a fucking lottery go on all remaining invite players after this season, and top IM teams and form 8 brand new teams for next season. The only reason people wouldn't want to do this is because they know they won't be "the best team"...please don't say it's because you want to play with your friends. Being the best team as of right now doesn't mean much considering there are 4 lol. Gotta do something different..anyone that's been to LAN or won a LAN has nothing to prove at this point anyway. If you really want the competitive community to keep going, change it up.

Just out of curiosity...why does it matter where it's at?? Plane tickets suck no matter where you go right now. Is it just due to there being more west coast players going to LAN, or the fact that RI itself isn't much of a draw?

good dude, known him for a long time...very good scout!!

It's lame as hell this still happens, but it's not like this should come to a surprise as anyone.

Also, just because a team forces you to play 5v6 doesn't mean you have to do it to someone else. I'm sure you could fit a 30-45 min match into one other day of the week...or just do a double header. Most of us have fought off sleep at one point or another to play in a match past what was originally intended....it's not like this happens all the time anyways.

Not saying this justifies a retaliation to get a player banned (i don't agree with that at all)...just saying it's not that hard to suck it up and wait for their 6th or reschedule if necessary.

1600 DPI
Windows 5
In game 2

1' 360 on all classes 0___0

PS: I don't use accell, as i turn fast enough as it is

dear john carter > disney's john carter

1. If you could have a 2nd chance at any match you lost, which one would it be?

2. Who was the worst teammate you ever had? (in terms of skill)

3. Who was the most under-rated player, or player who had the most potential that you played with but never made it to the top? (from any era of the game)

4. Who is your favorite rival to play against? (from any era of the game)

5. Finally and most importantly, will you play MvM with me when you get back from Europe?