It’s hard work being a fan of European competitive Team Fortress 2. We yearn to see the best players in the continent pushing themselves and their teammates to reach dizzying new heights as they strive for perfection. We are ever hopeful to see those new talents, bubbling to the surface inspired by these gladiatorial role models; let them erupt and solidify to lay foundation for the future seasons! But what is there to play for in Europe? Thrice yearly LAN finals? Not on this side of the Atlantic.

The reality is that since Epsilon eSports reclaimed the World Championship for Europe this time last year, the standard in the Premiership and Division 1 has plateaued... at best. Don’t get me wrong, teams have still been knocking lumps out of each other season after season for good old-fashioned pride and graciously received donator prize pots and Tt eSPORTS swag, but the wounds inflicted by Mixup and LG at Insomnia 46 have long since healed and, until recent weeks, the great sense of purpose for top flight teams seemed to have all but dissipated.

The question remains to be answered, has Europe taken its eye off the prize? The Australians have shown us in the last week that they have remained hungry despite a dearth of genuine competitors in their homeland. The North American scene finds itself with an embarrassment of riches; three remarkable top teams and triannual offline events of the highest calibre at which to hone their skills. Even right as ETF2L is in its usual state of summer holiday bliss, the yanks are in the midst of another brutal season. Meanwhile, Europe’s brightest hopes can count on one hand the number of maps they’ve played with a full roster in the last month.

Is it too little too late for the Euros? I wouldn’t bet on it. The only certainty is that all debts will be settled this weekend at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena. The first phase of the i52 TF2 tournament will see an invite group of the eight best teams sizing each other up in a battle for seeding. Three of those places should be accounted for by our intercontinental guests, so allow me to guide you through the likely candidates for those remaining spots.

Epsilon eSports

*KnOxXx* *WAR* *Mike* *tek* *Kiler4fun* *basH*

All signs pointed to the long-awaited defeat of Epsilon in the recent ETF2L Season 18. The writing was on the wall as they struggled to assemble a roster after an eight month dormancy, at least a roster that the community deemed worthy of the Epsi legacy. Huge holes were left to fill with Stefan, GeaRand numlocked unwilling to commit to a new era of supremacy.

After his dramatic exit from AYOGURL a season earlier, Mike was adamant that the world champions would be returned to their former glory. So much so that the Welsh wunderkind stepped up to share the captaincy with KnOxXx, juggling schedules and managing players whilst charting their league revival and LAN aspirations.

Despite early dominance from Awsomniac (then BFF) and that Golden Cap against Lazy Pandas, Epsilon’s flame would only burn brighter as their title campaign progressed, peaking just in time for the Grand Final. How could we ever have doubted them?

I’ll tell you how! Questionable scout performances all season from basH, in which he often appeared to be out of sync with the hivemind and generally a shadow of his former razor-sharp self; an ill-advised death here, a failed assassination attempt there, all captured by generally underwhelming stats. It didn’t help that Kiler was quietly going about his business becoming scout of the season with his own unorthodox style.

Yet, despite chopping and changing medics, demoman and soldiers, Epsilon never demonstrated anything less than loyalty to the German scout. Needless to say, he delivered when it mattered and the side remain undefeated, but until I see him do it at again LAN I will remain a doubter no matter what excuses are floated about changing sensitivities.

Chatting to Mike last week, fishing for drama, I quizzed him about the current play style of Epsilon; how he felt about WARHURYEAH leanings towards pocketing as demoman and stepping on his toes? Would he rather played a straight up pocket role like Zebbosai? His response was cunning, but offered a clear insight in to the team mind-set:

“I'm happy to play however is needed to make the best of the team, depending on the map and who we're playing versus, I feel like I am the most adaptable soldier out there along with tek/GeaR”

How true that is! I don’t think it is too grandiose to say that Mike transcends the soldier class, he is not only the greatest soldier, but the greatest player in European history -- as his ETF2L Award history will tell you. Furthermore, this liquid style of Team Fortresss 2 is what set Epsilon apart from their opposition. Like all championship teams they may lose a few early rounds, but whilst you are growing in confidence they are identifying your weaknesses and adapting to exploit them.

I’ll round off this love letter by saying that I don’t actually think Mike will be the standout player of the tournament. There are a glut of exceptional pockets in attendance, but relatively few gifted roamers. I’m starting the campaign right here, right now; Tek for the Ballon d'Or. Not only is he the master of all soldier game modes and an incredibly intelligent roamer, with seagull level timing and awareness; he is the quintessential multi-classer -- a devastating sniper, a veteran highlander heavy and ruthless spy. He is the competitive Swiss army knife and he is going to unleash whoop-ass with that shitty can opener.

Awsomniac

*Mirelin* *kaidus* *Zebbosai* *Knutsson* *Starkie* *zappis*

Realising now that I wrote 570 words about Epsilon where stating “dey gon win” might have sufficed, I will now endeavour to edit myself so that this article doesn’t join ETF2L coverage in the “too late to publish” pile -- my pilgrimage to Coventry starts in nine hours. That’s not to say that Awsomniac are not contenders. They are most definitely on Epsilon’s level. Despite the forced acquisition of Finnish retiree, zappis, following fl1p’s stark departure. Despite the uninspiring roaming of Knutsson. Despite the endless technical difficulties wielded in defence of their performances. I still believe.

I recently had the chance to commentate a few of their games with Sideshow and ipz, and we were struck by how hard Zebbosai was working. Seemingly unimpressed with his own flank’s play, he would pop up time and time again behind enemy lines making the required moves. We mused that this overcompensation was most likely symptomatic of a lack of creativity from the Knutsson*zappis* pairing.

Sure, I could be making a mountain out of a molehill, these games were not always featuring the starting six, PCWs don’t mean anything and online is online, but this opinionated prop-hype-ganda and I’mma run with it. It is public knowledge that Zebbosai does not intend to continue on pocket next season, but for the time being I can’t help but feel that he needs to focus on playing pocket. Yes, we need to see more from the AwS flank, but rather than doing their homework for them like an overbearing parent perhaps Sebastian should step back and relinquish control – you can’t do everything.

Their combo – Mirelin, Zebbosai and kaidus – are a force of nature, each could be considered the best in their respective classes on any given Sunday, but if they hope to be playing Team Fortress 2 this Sunday we will have to see a consummate team performance from Awsomniac. Don’t obsess about what is going wrong, but rather encourage a little imagination and creative flair across the board, because head-to-head in a straight up game this current roster will come up short of the Grand Finals. Take risks if you want to take the title, because the truth is you won’t be able to win the war of attrition versus Epsilon or out-deathmatch Froyotech.

Reason Gaming

*Bulle* *huhy* *Drackk* *Rising* *smzi* *Herr_P*

Belying the fact that this roster is not even a month old, Reason are reportedly Europe’s most prepared team having been grafting hard whilst Epsilon and Awsomniac were unable to field their starting sixes. Alas, when it came to last weekend’s CyberLeague Invitational where they finished a disappointing 5th at the hands of AwS' early nosedive to the lower bracket, they were without out linchpin former scout of the season, smzi. His 200 DPM at LAN will surely make all the difference.

Excuses aside, this roster features the statistical demoman of the season, huhy, a hugely underrated talent who I just happen to be sharing a room with at LAN. He does suffer from a crippling low-prem thirdie mentality and the psychological trauma of playing in a team with ipz once may have scarred him permanently, but at long last has found himself a good medic in the form of Bulle. So anything is possible, right?!

A rookie pocket in the form of Drackk, and Rising, a roamer who hasn’t yet had his moment in the limelight that his ability says he deserves, make this a very interesting team to watch. Hopefully Reason Gaming can live up to their claims of being committed for future ETF2L seasons, but their main contribution to a tournament of this quality is likely to be losing exciting games – a top five finish would be highly impressive. As a shop window for new talent, look no further, but what these future stars like Herr_P really need is a dedicated team environment within which they can grow.

Publiclir.se

*vani* *Smirre* *ondkaja* *cAPS* *alba* *Dennia*

That same CyberLeague Invitational also bore witness to the first signs of the impending apocalypse as the team who will forever be derided as “lol saints” managed to scalp both the silver and bronze medallists from ETF2L Season 18. Awsomniac down. Fenneks eSports down. Never forget.

Really though, what does it all mean? Everyone is so quick to dismiss the prospects of Publiclir.se, but you can’t deny that somewhere within this beautiful Swedish circlejerk there is the potential for a surprise or two. Smirre and Dennia are genuine game changing players emerging periodically from this generally uncoordinated clusterfuck to wow opponents and spectators alike. They seem to thrive in chaos!

I have nothing but respect to them for making the journey to England without asking for a single penny from the community, to compete in a tournament even they surely know they cannot win. Nor will I disrespect you, the reader, by peddling any fiction about them having a chance of a podium placement in these world championships, but if they finish above Reason Gaming the jagerbombs are on me.

AYOGURL

*Ace* *Permzilla* *kos* *Sideshow* *hawku* *e-thug*

The team that simply begs to have the piss taken out of them. I mean it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Are they really going to let kingofsquirrels play pocket again after that crushing loss to TEZC in Lithuania? Sideshow the man who got out-roamed by Coleman? This team is LAN proven... 100% certified authentic LAN proven trashcans.

Permzilla on demoman only means that they will take a very, very, very long time to defeat; “push!” is seemingly not a word in his vocabulary. Ace and e-thug are probably the two tamest Vikings in existence and I don’t even know who the fuck hawku is?

Talking to these guys recently, their main objective seems to be putting on a good show... if trolling the fuck out of everyone and spamming binds is your idea of entertainment. Sideshow’s top priority should be exiting the tournament as soon as possible to lay his rightful claim to the casting throne.

Team Colonslash

*Ramagan* *kr4tos* *Hildreth* *WalKeR* *RazorsEdge* *Hallow*

Such is the mediocrity of AYOGURL I think that it is only fair that they are made to prove themselves in a pre-group playoff against this ragtag mix team of Germans, Englishmen and a Frenchie. Also a Swede.

Actually shouldn’t these guys all hate each other by default? 1939? Ringing any bells? Your grandfathers didn’t die face down in the mud so you could play fucking vidyagames together? Fuck!

Anyway, tournament admins you know where I stand on this. Pre-group playoff hype, Shintaz and Coleman to cast or we call the whole thing off.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, you know I’ve lost heart in this article by now, but I was also intending to write a bit about who isn’t attending. Spoiler: It’s Fenneks because wltrs will forever dodge; I love you Robin. However, that does mean that ryb will be unable to defend his beard of the tournament title. Things just got interesting...

tl;dr We are all counting on you Epsilon WARHURYEAH.