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With the Highlander Nations Cup fast approaching on ETF2L the captains have now been selected for each of the countries participating in the tournament. One of our recent additions to the community Toba will be leading Finland. Between his busy summer work schedule and TF2 life I managed to squeeze a few words out of him.

O: Hello Toba. Firstly congratulations on becoming captain of the Finland Highlander team! Tell us a bit about how you got into competitive TF2 and what has happened since then.

T: Thank you. Well, I got scouted/picked up by Smitz in a TF2lobby back in 2012 and joined his UGC team. After that I have slowly climbed the division ladder in both Highlander and 6v6.

O: We have seen you play many different classes in your competitive TF2 career. What is your main class?

T: Well, I started up as a main Heavy and after that I transitioned to Demoman, but in ETF2L Highlander Season 5 I mained Medic in Division 2, because we didn’t have a Medic. I tend to jump between Heavy and Demoman a lot since I consider myself to be equally good at them, but I guess I can call Demoman my main class, since I have put more effort into it because of 6v6.

O: You are quite a new addition to the TC community. How did you get in?

T: Well, I knew Oxy and TC from before. When my team ( The Breakfast Club) died, I got quickly snapped up by Oxy to his TC UGC team with the option of also playing in the next ETF2L season.

O: Is your roster all ready to go, or are you still deciding upon your final lineup?

T: We had our first PCW against Poland, it didn’t go well, and then we had a PCW v. Sweden where we both took 1 map each. We have the roster sorted out, but our main lineup is still a bit open, so we are using the PCWs to find an optimal main lineup. Overall we have a really strong team this year.

O: I saw from the logs that you are playing Engineer instead of Heavy/Demoman. How come?

T: Well the original plan was that I would play Demoman or Heavy, but when the two top engineers from Finland denied their call up, it became quite hard to find an Engineer. So I took it upon myself to play Engineer and gave our Demomen Nappr ( Colony, now playing for hePPa) and Lalli ( Fair Enough) and Heavies Jamal ( Kill Switch) and Qnai ( Fair Enough) a chance to shine.

O: Your group stage games are against Czech Republic, Israel, United Arab Emirates and Belgium. How do you feel about these games?

T: Both Israel and Belgium are going to be hard opponents. Especially Israel since we are playing them on cp_intermodal_g1, which is a new map for most of us. United Arab Emirates and Czech Republic should be easier opponents, but you have to remember this is Highlander so there are many factors in the games. We will practise hard so we’ll be fine.

O: Do you have a goal for this tournament?

T: Winning it, of course, but realistically speaking, I think we’ll get to the Semifinals, but we shall take 1 game at a time.

O: How do you feel about the addition of cp_intermodal_g1? Was it wise to add such a unknown map for this tournament?

T: Well I’m open to new maps, but I don’t like it being implemented into the nations cup, since there is already little time to prepare the team/practise maps. Might be a good map, but it is not the right moment to give it a go.

The controversial map choice cp_intermodal_g1

O: With Belgium in your group it will pit you head-to-head against fellow team-mate FromZero2Hero. Anything you’d like to say to him?

T: I think they have a good team and that they might have chance of progressing further than Group Phase this time. Prepare yourself, there will be no mercy 8)

O: We shall let him know that! Thanks for your time and good luck with the tournament!

T: Thank you.

Several other members of our community have also been selected to play for their country. They are:

Reservoir Dog (Medic for Croatia)

(Medic for Croatia) Der_Milchmann (Sniper for Germany)

(Sniper for Germany) FromZero2Hero (Demoman for Belgium)

(Demoman for Belgium) Kuferl (Heavy for Austria)

(Heavy for Austria) Xabi (Medic for France)

(Medic for France) this is evil evil (Engineer for Denmark)

(Engineer for Denmark) mohawk (Sniper for Czech Republic)

We wish them all the best of luck with their respective teams!