At this point I'm not sure I'll ever have the time/inclination to start a new game in competitive again, but if I do, will probably be Reflex or Overwatch.

Heroes of the Storm has been kinda fun to putz around with, but I still can't get into MOBAs.

Great name.

He can only drive when the car isn't moving.

This is exciting.

I'm sure there will be a million imperfections but, really it's probably best to get it started with simple, intuitive stats that are easily accessible now and get people started. As it goes on, little improvements will start to be obvious and maybe it can evolve.
I remember playing Fantasy Football when it was just points for touchdowns and yards. So many advanced statistics are widely available now because of the interest from fantasy led to the development of tools to satisfy more complicated fantasy leagues.

Maybe a fantasy league would generate enough interest that people would get interested in finding ways to do advanced logs/demo file parsing that could give us better information about how a game went - tracking events by advantages and situations, for example, would be awesome. Finding a way to quantify uber forces or wasted damage or something like that would be extremely cool.

bad link, never mind!

less than an hour to decide, 45 teams paid and 25 more pending. Looks fairly healthy.

Blue and Navy have to get consolidated but Cyan gets it's own listing?

I'm 38 with a 5 year old, a job and a 2-hour commute. . .
Doing this is really hard sometimes. It's a decision I made, as terrible as I am at the game - it's my reward for putting up with the rest of the bullshit work/life puts me through.
I can say that because I still have a ton to learn and it's fun for me.
Anything short of that and I'd be over it in a heartbeat. I can't blame anyone with some combination of work/family/job for not putting TF2 at the top of their list.

I wish we could have signed up for the Dead map event, but the team was/isn't settled. It's awesome it's happening and if you need help doing more things like it, whatever it is, hit me up.

I always thought 2 was basically the perfect NES game.
The controls are so smooth, the music is so good, it's still a lot of fun to play today.

Thanks, added it. I am bad at reddit.

To further my personal interest in encouraging new players to give ESEA a shot as they improve and develop as teams - I am taking applications for sponsorship of up to two full (preferably) UGC 6s teams for their league fees (up to six player entry fees - Premium not included).

Eligible teams would be any team that completed UGC NA 6s Season 17 in Steel, Silver or Gold and registers an ESEA Open TF2 roster.
S17 Playoff teams preferred, but will review all applications submitted.
Teams interested should move quickly - applications are due by midnight EST on April 20 and league registration ends April 22!

Please download the application document from here and e-mail responses to plinko(at)gmail.com by the deadline. Only complete applications will be accepted.

I know the notice is short, with the deadline just around the corner, but if you're thinking of taking your team into a first Open season, now is the time!

Granary is dead, long live granary.

The tournament is a really good idea - obviously not viable for S19 but worth thinking about for S20.

Sponsorships for UGC playoff teams is also a good idea I can do right now so will probably do something like that soon, thanks!

Nice folks, winston is really good.

Time to finally wrap this up!

This ended up being pretty close with first and second place being decided by rounds for and the third place squad just one win behind for the season.

1st Place ($100): Dong Kongs 9-7 (54 Rounds For, 40 Rounds against) - led by Dreamerrr.
2nd Place ($60): Guitar Heroes 9-7 (36 Rounds For, 42 Rounds against) - led by Lial
3rd Place ($40): All Blue 8-8 (44 Rounds For, 46 Rounds against) - led by Rage____

The prize money has been paid out per the leader's wishes (with the exception of one player who is choosing to take his share as ESEA fees for S19).

With this done, I'm open to suggestions on something to do in a similar vein for next season - the primary goal being to encourage new-ish players/teams to get into Open sooner rather than later. I'm not sure this did much to actually get teams into the league, though maybe it kept some teams sticking through the end (I like to think).

While none of the teams that entered made playoffs, plenty of them seemed to be competitive enough and many of the players are going to stick around for another season at least, which is a success in my book! Congrats to everyone that participated and made it through the season, best of luck next season!