I can understand and I am sure it was a team decision to play the way they did. I was more commenting on a personal level. Even if I was out of playoff contention or if the match meant nothing for the season, it was still a chance to improve and work on things against one of the best teams / players around. I would view it as a missed opportunity but perhaps I am putting too much into it, that is just how I would personally feel if I was involved.

I felt it was beyond retarded to watch in a match setting. Why should the next "underdog" team just throw in the towel and play like idiots against Froyo or Ascent because they are in for a really tough match to win? I have never thought I was going to lose anything competitive in my life until the game was over and the other team proved me wrong. Until that happens, play hard all the time to win and fuck around during scrims/pugs.

after the first half it turned into a matchmaking stress test

I agree with both opinions about mix and epsi. Would have been insane to see i46 mixup vs i49 Epsi.

I was referring more to how closely matched epsi/mix were at i52. I can't recall another LAN series of 6 matches between 2 teams that were so closely played with the exception of the first map where mixup rolled Epsi 5-0 on badlands.

Most even team matchup at the highest level ever has to be at i52 when Mixup played Epsi in the uppper bracket and then again in the lower bracket. Both matches were insanely close and both went to a 3rd map to decide the winner.

UB Map 1 -- Badlands -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMHAAcnBoB4
UB Map 2 -- Gullywash -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHx6AI_yF8o
UB Map 3 -- Viaduct -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXa1L_lqqFk

LB Map 1 -- Gullywash -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXa1L_lqqFk
LB Map 2 -- Snakewater -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TSX0itpDt8
LB Map 3 -- Badlands -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMmtr8CuCPc

IMO the best TF2 ever played between 2 teams is right here. The very final match on Badlands in the LB went to a Golden Cap to decide who went home and who advanced. Watching live was such an enjoyable and intense time.

Seen this face walking towards me at work this week, thought b4nny from a distance

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/surgery/Clinical/faculty/fischer_john.html

I would have given it a shot had I hit the last huge Powerball for 1.5 billion. Why would the best gamers want to put crazy time into playing and getting awesome at TF2 if the prize pools were so shit compared to other games.

The plan would have been to get the best teams and players from NA, EU and AU and organize a LAN for a huge prize pool surpassing that of the CS tournaments. Perhaps sponsors and organizations would help TF2 organize more in the future like they do for CS.

Enough money in prizes that it would hopefully bring back the top players who have "retired". Probably 3-4 teams from NA (mixup players hopefully), 3-4 from EU, iM from AU and maybe a 2nd team, maybe even a team from Asia or Brazil. Fly these players out, full room and board and have the best TF2 LAN ever.

the dreams..

I realize they can get up there but it is not easily or quickly accessible. I was referring to a direct ramp or another feature allowing that.

Lots of people talking about Snakewater mid-fights. Thoughts on adding a ramp for non-jumping classes to get on top of the point? A change like that might help the dynamic of mid-fights.

After reading through this whole thread, there is a ton of focus on the buzz words “class limits / class restrictions”. I don’t believe anyone has touched on or talked about why these work for competitive 6’s. Perhaps some of the HL players can understand better the reasoning why instead of 6’s players just trashing the HL style.

In my opinion, the biggest factor in a competitive environment is to always strive to achieve the fastest moving and highest level gameplay possible. To get to that level, you need to focus on the classes that offer the highest skill ceiling. Hence why we have Scout, Soldier, Demo and Medic as the meta for 6’s. Each of these classes represent the highest skill ceiling's in TF2 and continue to be redefined and the skill ceiling rises sometimes by leaps and bounds in a short time period. The same simply cannot be said about the remaining 5 classes.

I am not saying spy, heavy, engineer, pyro and sniper do not require skill. I am saying that, with the possible exception of Sniper, these 5 classes all fall far behind the 4 classes used in 6’s in regards to speed and skill ceiling. Focusing on the main reason behind competitive gaming (fastest moving and highest level gameplay possible) you need to tailor the game meta around what raises the bar for “skill and speed” not for “fun”.

In my opinion only, Matchmaking is going to be wonderful for introducing new players to the 6v6 scene and for the “fun” aspect of TF2 where you can play whatever class you want and enjoy yourself. Calling anything “Competitive” without focusing on the most efficient way to play 6v6 is a step in the wrong direction long term.

Broder w/ Jukebox and Zebossai
my 2 favorite euro's to watch

random stats for this match:

• Shrugger is going for his 125th invite win. He will join the Top 10 All-Time win list.
  
• 20-3 -- yomps match record since he joined Ascent. 87% win rate.
  
• rando is going for his 75th invite win. He will pass oPlaid and take the #25 spot All-Time.
  
• sighguy is currently 3rd in damage (89,292) among all invite players, while taking significantly less heals (17,480) than his counterparts.
  
• indust will play his 96th career invite match, placing him 45th All-Time in that category.

More stats at : http://tf2db.github.io/tf2database/

random stats for the match tonight:

• Cole becomes the 17th player this season to make his debut in the invite division.
  
• 303.5 -- goldfish's DPM so far this season. Tops among Invite Pocket's
  
• 8 of the 12 players in this match are in their first Invite Season.
  
• 99 -- The Career Total matches played among the remaining 4 players tonight
  
• 34 matches -- goldfish
  
• 33 matches -- Rekuso
  
• 22 matches -- Jarrett
  
• 10 matched -- mausy

More stats at :http://tf2db.github.io/tf2database/

when CEVO and ESEA refused to coordinate map rotations Season 16
fucking scheduling nightmare

Sounds good Buick, hopefully I can give the casters more stuff to talk about here and there.

Unfortunately, my database isn't updated live, I do it at the end of the season.. I will just try to continue doing it match by match and just make posts in these threads as the season continues,