first off; really nice set! those cymbals are super nice and with some good heads + tuning, your set is going to sound amazing.

these are super popular and pretty common among people who uploaded drum covers of themselves on youtube / beginner recordings. i've never used them so i can't speak to their quality, but i'd check them out. i'm using these which i absolutely love, but they are kind of pricey, and if you are going for a more low-fi / garage sound, they probably aren't necessary.

i'll throw in my 2 cents from someone who played with scratch for ~three months and a ton of pugs.

i heard a lot of bad things about scratch before then, especially considering the circle he comes from (yoona, ehko, etc.) however, my time playing with him, he was never racist, transphobic, or harassing. this is across both scrims and pugs. he was putting in a ton of hours into the game and expecting to play this season, so I have a hard time seeing him jeopardizing that without any concrete evidence. i know he has said and made regrettable decisions in the past, but I don't think it should factor in considering the age of them.

i'm willing to change my mind if there is conclusive evidence, but without any, i have a hard time seeing a justification for banning him.

I feel like it's weird that toms aren't essential to whatever your end goal is, but jazz brushes are. Ultimately, your choice though.

SM57 is fine for snare, but for overhead, use condenser mics. They're a lot better for that sort of thing.

Never played on a Millennium pedal before in my life but if it's only 522 SEK ($55 roughly in USD) that shit is monkaS. Definitely pay a premium for a good pedal, it'll make a massive difference that will certainly be worth it.

I'd recommend get a drum key plus some heads. I use Evans Genera Dry and Evans EMAD2 with corresponding reso heads. Remo and Aquarian make their own versions, but they're all good from my experience. They make a world of difference, and if you go the used route, will probably be required depending on the condition of them.

This is definitely subjective, but in my opinion, there are shitty cymbals and good cymbals with no real in-between (with few exceptions). 101 to PST5 is an upgrade, but both are pretty shitty overall. As long as they aren't cracks (maybe keyholing depending on how bad it is), 100% look at ebay for that because shipping won't be ridiculous compared to full drum kits. In general, you can skate with a crappier hi-hat and ride, but I would pay a bit extra for a good crash.

you are going to buy an entire recording setup... but not a full drum kit? bruh.

also only 1 pair of drumsticks? Buy a pack please. And overall, drum equipment is generally very durable, and I'd try to buy used before ordering brand new everything.

ding ding ding!

https://imgur.com/a/7ihLkYF

also, how you going to tell people to be cautious about a situation you know nothing about when you've actually cut your entire team before?

florida should drop minimum of 20 spots if not more.

https://www.brokenpicturephone.com/moves/-LukLvQrjh-2yhxn0Akw.png

i like how your third point (which is barely true) is literally an example for why it should stay. the fact that you sacrifice situational awareness in favor of heals is good weapon design.

if anyone needs a sub or has a match only / low commit team, I'd be down to play. I played on Space Pirates last season in invite, got 6th. add me

favorite tf2 moment?

also favorite pixar movie

If you go to a match page (which you can access if you go to a team's home page -> click on one of their matches), click on watch demo to download it. Some STVs go down, so not all matches will have demos, but I think most of them so far have been good.

https://play.esea.net/match/14854354 <- just an example

If you want BLOYO demos, they are still up. (https://play.esea.net/teams/77431?tab=league&period[type]=seasons&period[season_start]=200). Make sure you copy and paste that entire URL to get them.

RGL makes the most sense right now. It has a sizable prize pool, it's established, and if it ran similar to HL there, I don't see why that wouldn't be the best option. I know people meme about Sigafoo selling coke on the side to get those prize pools, but I don't think he would risk his finances by pissing 6s players off because of his TF2 philosophy. UGC has largely been their own thing forever now, and TFCL has little to no chance at competing without offering a massive prize pool / getting sponsors. That sucks in a way, because I don't see how it would be possible for RGL and ESL (if it were to happen) could collaborate, but that's how I see it panning out.

Also, I wasn't around for CEVO vs. ESEA, so I might be wrong, but I thought the reason why that situation was especially divisive was because 1.) The entire bitcoin mining scandal at ESEA creating distrust between the playerbase and 2.) you had to play ~ four matches a week on CEVO, meaning it was virtually impossible to play both leagues at once. I don't see those issues being a problem this time around. That isn't to say splitting the player-base into multiple leagues is necessarily a good thing, but I don't think it would be the end of the world if it were to happen the first couple of seasons.

the title of this post has already aged well

sad!