The entries for the 16BIT TF “Frags & Affection” Ultiduo have closed and secured an impressive 12 teams for the competition. To catch up or recap on the tournament  general rules, check out this link. Due to the amount of teams that have entered and the time it will take to play the matches, the tournament will be run over Saturday as well as Sunday Night. Elimination round, Prelims and Semi’s will be held on Saturday night and Finals on Sunday night.

The teams are as follows:

All Night: Christopher “Turkish” Smithard – Soldier

Hanli “Delight” Cilliers – Medic

Synergy: Jaco “Wasabi” Swanepoel – Soldier

Andrew “PaciF1ST” Bevis – Medic

tollewaans Jag: Izak “jaguarkid” Bekker – Soldier

Thys “tollewaan” Snyman – Medic

wambam: Richard “xolox” Tyrrell – Soldier

Antonio “skiba” Cosentino – Medic

TP: Yogan “FiSH” Murugan – Soldier

David “Cornholio” Gooden – Medic

OP: Louw “Acrobat” Cilliers – Soldier

Hennie “Frozen” Verwey – Medic

CapHat: Arne “Bl1nd” Schreuder – Soldier

Sergei “Goldenpantsman” Pringiers – Medic

Kwagga: Tristan “Ultixorz” Parris – Soldier

Anthony “Zephon” Berinato – Medic

Team Rocket: Jonty “Little-Mermaid” Triton – Soldier

Leandro “GoMz” Gomes – Medic

Some teams have not assigned names to themselves, and will receive generic names. Teams are welcome to update team names on this thread before Saturday.

• Ulti 1: Dean “Judo:D” Lotter – Soldier
  Matthew “bÆstly” Cherry – Medic
• Ulti 2: Jacques “¼” Schutte – Soldier
  Kevin “stiXz_” Gouws – Medic
• Ulti 3: David “Machaven” Olivier – Soldier
  Tim “Shawshaw” Forshaw – Medic

Seedings/Match Ups

Teams will be matched up in a random pick manner. All Soldiers will join the following server at 17:45 pm on Saturday: 16BIT TF2 Ultiduo I 196.38.180.45:27055 Medics may join if Soldiers are unavailable. Each team will be assigned a number known only by the admin. Players will be given a chance to pick a number and the team that number has been assigned to will be their opponents.

This method will be applied to Round 1 (Eliminations) only; a template will be applied to rounds after that.

Seeding Template

Round Formats

Round 1 (12 teams): Eliminations will be held across six servers in a single elimination format.

Round 2: (6 teams) Prelims will be held across three servers in a single elimination format.

Round 3 (3 teams): Semi-Finals will be held in a round robin format (also single elimination). This method has been chosen as a result of the number of teams to decide which two teams will play in the finals. The format is as follows:

Phase 1:  Team 1 vs. Team 2

Phase 2: Team 1 vs. Team 3

Phase 3: Team 2 vs. Team 3

Each team will be assigned one point per win and the two teams with the most points will progress to the finals.

Round Durations:

Round 1: 18:00 – 19:00

Round 2: 19:00 – 20:00

Round 3: 20:00 – 22:15

The finals will be held on Sunday at 19:00.

Server IP’s

This post will be updated with the IP’s as soon as possible.

Map Selection

Map selection will be done by an elimination process, the two teams will enter into a gentleman’s agreement as to who get’s to go first. A team will eliminate one map from the map pool that they don’t want to play and then the opposing team. This process will carry on until there is only one map left. The map left is the map played. FiSH will be doing server admin, so players are to send him a personal message on steam as to their decided map. FiSH will then change the server to said map. Make sure that you have added him on steam if you don’t have him before the competition starts.

Shoutcasting

The finals of the “Frags & Affection” Ultiduo will be shoutcasted by none other than Lazar “Comedian” Jovic from VanillaTV and John “Agro” Irwin from KritzKast. They will also be joined by 16Bit TF founder Yolanda “Lolita” Green.

The shoutcasting will take place on the following Mumble server: mumble.vanillatv.org: 64738

Game servers provided by Internet Solutions, check out IS Gaming.

Important Notice

Rules for koth_ultiduo_r_b7 differ to the other KOTH maps. Please remember to dowload this map and to allocate it to your tf maps folder. Should you need help talk to Lola or FISH.

The capture point will immediately be available, players will spawn instantly after death and there are no health packs. Map time limit is 30 minutes and cap run down time 5 minutes. The winner is determined by first team to points difference of 5 or most caps in 30 minutes.

Results

Results may be posted on this thread.

This competition is experimental. 16Bit TF will adjust aspects of it as needed to optomise the experience for every one. All complaints, suggestions and queries must be emailed to 16bittf@gmail.com or directed at admins present in the IRC channel #16bittf on #shadowfire. Alternatively players can post on the FaceBook group wall or on the Steam group wall. Players who enter the competition agree to the possibility of  changes and improvements as well as the rules.

Server IP’s

Servers will be assigned to teams to play on:

Round 1:

Group A: -IS- 16BIT TF ULTIDUO I – IP:Port – 196.38.180.45:27055  Password: tf2csa
Group B: -IS- 16BIT TF ULTIDUO II – IP:Port – 196.38.180.45:27075 Password: tf2csa
Group C: -IS- 16BIT TF ULTIDUO III – IP:Port – 196.38.180.45:27095 Password: tf2csa
Group D: -IS- 16BIT TF ULTIDUO IV – IP:Port – 196.38.180.45:27215 Password: games
Group E: -IS- 16BIT TF ULTIDUO V – IP:Port – 196.38.180.45:27235 Password: games
Group F: -IS- 16BIT TF ULTIDUO VI – IP:Port – 196.34.92.41:27015 Password: tf2csa

Servers I-III will be used for round 2 and -IS- 16BIT TF ULTIDUO I for the semi’s and finals.

Source TV:

Gamers can connect to 196.38.180.45:27025 for the finals by typing in connect and the IP into their game console.

TF2CSA

In the spirit of Valentines Day and kicking off 2012 with a whole lot of fun, 16Bit TF will be hosting the 16Bit TF “Frags & Affection” Ultiduo on Sunday the 12th of February. This will be S.A’s very first Ultiduo and every one and any one is welcome to enter.

So what is Ultiduo?

The combo from 6v6 (medic and soldier) work together to kill the opponent combo. It is King of the Hill (KOTH); the objective is to capture the point and hold it for 3 minutes. It’s basically a death match style competition, very simple and easy to play.

The concept is meant to celebrate a very integral aspect of team fortress which is the medic and soldier; this is the core of the competitive scene and also is a staple combination in pub play.

With its fast-paced action an Ultiduo competition promises to deliver excitement, upsets and “midairs”. We looking forward to seeing new faces show their skills and expertise with the medic and soldier classes. Simply create a 2v2 team and you’ll be able to sign up.

Tournament Format

KOTH 2v2 format with the soldier and medic combo. The tournament will be a single elimination system, consisting of 3 rounds: preliminary, semi-finals and a final. Each round has a 30 minute time limit. To win a point a team must capture middle and hold it for three minutes (the clock starts running down once a team caps mid and stops when the other team starts capping it). The team who reaches 3 points first, wins the map.

Allowed Weapon Unlocks- Soldier:

Rocket Launcher
Shovel
Shotgun

Allowed Weapon Unlocks- Medic:

Syringe gun & Blütsauger

Bonesaw & Ubersaw

Medigun (Kritzkrieg is NOT allowed)

Competition Maps

koth_nucleus

koth_viaduct

koth_sawmill

koth_harvest_final

koth_badlands

General Rules

1) No class switching is allowed during a round, as it may give a slight advantage. Players are allowed to swap at the end of the round.

2) One Sub per duo will be allowed during the elimination rounds. Please note that semi finals and finals must be played by the exact line up that qualified for them. No subs will be allowed in the semi finals or finals as it makes to drastic a change to the game because a team exists only of two players. (Read this, don’t ask about it later )

3) Seedings will be done in a random pick format; a system will be implemented where essentially the participants will be the deciders.

4) Players must play with the same nick they registered with.

5) Each team is allowed only one tactical timeout (pause) per map. Tactical timeouts may not be longer than 10 minutes.

6) If a team is not on the server ready to play within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, that team will forfeit the map. After the first map, teams are allowed a 10 minute break before the start of the second map. This is under the players’ discretion, and if they wish to carry on straight away they may do so. (10 minute break only applicable to semi finals and finals)

Some important informationz!

This competition is experimental. 16Bit TF will adjust aspects of it as needed to optomise the experience for every one. All complaints, suggestions and queries must be emailed to 16bittf@gmail.com or directed at admins present in the IRC channel #16bittf on #shadowfire. Alternatively players can post on the FaceBook group wall or on the Steam group wall. Players who enter the competition agree to the possibility of small changes and improvements as well as the rules.

The exact times and rounds will be announced once registrations are closed and admins have had time to gather all data.

Players who display poor sportsmanship will be penalized as seen fit by the admins.

Tournament admins will be announced closer to the event.

The 16Bit TF “Frags & Affection” Ultiduo will be hosted on Internet Solutions servers, many thanks to them for their continuous support.

Where to enter?

Teams can sign up right here in the comments section, so that every one can see exactly who they will be facing. Entries close on the 5th of February.

Format: <Insert Team Name>

<Insert Player Name “Nick” Surname – Class>

<Insert Player Name “Nick” Surname – Class>

PS: Please don’t ask a gazillian questions in the comments section, refer to “Some important informationz!”, scroll up 

**Important Updates**

koth_ultiduo_r_b7  has been added to the existing map pool.

Download the map from here.

TF2CSA

Well it’s time to warm-up for 6v6 action peeps so let’s get started with a cup. This short tournament will take place from 19th of February until 26th of February and it will be played on a single map Cp Foundry to test it in the local scene and hopefully get some feedback on it from the community to decide if it’s a worthy map to be added for the 2012 season maps pool.

Cp_Foundry has received some popularity votes at the EU competitive scene.

• Format: 6v6
• Registrations Close Friday 17th February 11pm
• Kick Off Sunday 19th February
• Final Sunday 26th February

How to register:

• To register for the competition team leaders must just email razerfox@tf2.co.za with the roster and team name.

• If you are a lonely player that would like to be available for a team just post at the forum (Players looking for a team)

More info to follow as soon as registrations closed and we have the total numbers of teams.

Teams Registered

• Dirty Motion

Geno – Skillpig – Goldfox – Razerfox – Elapid – Carnage

• Naked

Fish – Xolox – Antie – Pacifist – GrimAndy – Silencer

• pcZ

Zephon – Phenix – Bl1nd – Goldenpantsman – Peng – Pointblank – Ultixorz – Inhuman –  Kilroy

TF2CSA

Yay another South African player Geno makes it at CommFT Moments of Glory check it out:

 

TF2CSA

A new year a fresh start right? well that’s what we usually do as like every year it seems like there is no improvement and our competitive community always fades away and we need to start from scratch. So let’s get to it…

Before we head to make plans and drafting ideas to make them happen I really feel like you need to read this http://www.vanillatf2.org/2011/12/admirable’s-odyssey/ unless you already did. And you will see that TF2 has the same issues worldwide but in SA is a bit worst because of the lower player base of course.

After you read that you might share the sad feeling as I did that our loved game days of glory will not go any further than short bursts of high activity and good vibes with promising future, all that to slip through your fingers like sand without any hope of extending that promising future, so keep holding that sand clock and turn it now and then to blind ourselves about the ugly true and keep playing like nothing happens.

I would like to show you a comment from Byte on that post:

This article you have typed up James is how I’ve been feeling for well over 2 years, and there isn’t anyone here who can’t deny what Admirable has said is true.

All we have to do is look at how when Admirable left for what 4/5months? and no articles got written and Cadred decided not to cover TF2 anymore, all because no other fudgenut could be assed to put in the time and write some articles about what’s going on in the scene? Whether you think losing Cadred is a loss or not is irrelevant.

Instead we have peons able to write 1000word essays on ETF2L or people doing troll posts x 1000 which is the same amount as a worthy article.

I myself am reaching a point where I don’t have enough time in my life to do as much as I could do before for the TF2 community and I would really hope or wish that someone or some people could step up to the plate and put the time in.

I applaud people like Skyride, Torden, Admirable, Comedian and others who have the tolerance to do the work and despite the backchat and criticism they get least they actually do the work and provide something for the community. Without just those 4 people alone I mentioned 60% of the stuff you see in this community would not exist (yes 60% or more tbh). I won’t go more into stroking their ego’s but credit where it’s due, time moves on and so will they as will I.

It’s about time some of you bum’s out there who have spare time on your hands do something to keep TF2 going. Whether it’s design/functionality/teaching/a service. Just something useful that new comers will think wow this is a really good tool.

As for “TF2 is dead” Syndrome, happens every winter and yawn tbh, TF2 was dead BEFORE it was even born. Valve killed what Team Fortress is all about when they made it into a slower and cartoonish based game. Do we love TF2? Hell yes we do, is this community able to accept that it’s nothing like SC2 ? or cs 1.6? No 50% of us aren’t.

Best thing we can do is support it play the game you love and enjoy it, if you’re not enjoying it then leave no one is stopping you, as Randa said, those who play competitively and retire rarely ever leave TF2.

“The game is not dying it’s unborn play it while it’s encapsulated in some nourishment (from key figures) before the miscarriage occurs”

Cheers

Byte

So tell me do you feel on the same way? the lack of support from community, the lack of mutual help and so on…

Best thing we can do is support it, play the game you love and enjoy it, if you’re not enjoying it then leave no one is stopping you, as Randa said, those who play competitively and retire rarely ever leave TF2.

This is just what everyone must do if you really give a damm about the game.

Why so mad? Just chill...

Anyways we can still make things happen peeps so just play! Have fun!

TF2CSA

Oh yeah! Our very own KunG Fu features this week at CommFT’s TF2 Moments of Glory with an amazing kill streak (complete swept) at Granary during the 16Bit Face-Off-Challenge Finals vs Team Masters.

Check it out:

 

Shouts to Lucky Luke, Community Fortress and eXtelevision

Thanks!

 

Drop your comments at CommFT Youtube’s channel: CommFT

TF2CSA

After spending a few weeks down under and returning (relatively un-scathed and un-harmed) Ryan “Evil clown / Trippy” Nussey explores the differences between Australian and South African TF2, both public and competitive.

The lay of the land

Before you puzzle yourself over the clever title of this page and get lost in its translation please understand that I was only in the country for a few weeks and, yes, I have returned “un-sheeped”, or “un-shagged”.
I’m going to cover public side of things before I move on to the more competitive part of this article. When you first launch TF2 in Australia you get a strange buzz of excitement up the back of your spine because, lets be serious, you have no idea what is waiting for you. They have up to 35 different full time servers running at any given moment and it is almost guaranteed that three of them will be full and another seven will have players playing at any given moment.

For someone who was constantly jet lagged, this was pure bliss. Game play on the servers was fantastic as it took only an hour or so for any server to be patched. There are roughly five dedicated server hosts, each equivalent to IS and SGS with a few randomly hosted servers that everyone generally steers clear of.

A positive to all these different providers is the user forums boasting over three thousand topics between them. Should any user experience issues with game play or players on the server, a quick trip to the forum results in swift action taken by the admins concerned. I think this system is something we could use more effectively here in South Africa.

To top off the awesome “Aussiness”, I was amazed to watch my backpack fill up surprisingly faster than in South Africa and with extremely decent items – specifically hats. I found this both an awesome and guilty pleasure. I mean finding two hats within thirty minutes does not feel quite fair…

Playing the game

Playing Fortress with the Aussies was very different indeed. Consider this scenario: You’re being healed , about to rush the point with an “uber” ready and suddenly the native medic yells as loud as possible into his mic, “I popped, mate!” It reminded me of those late night E-TV moments.

Besides the strange accents playing with this lot is extremely average. When it comes to basic game play and team classes these guys have their heads in the ground. I did not come across one person who played the game just because it was free. Every Aussie I faced had paid for TF2. The general ability seems average too. Take a so-so South African player. In my experience he (or she) will rack up a score of around fifty to eighty in half an hour of game play. Australian servers run for a full hour and the average player barely manages to break sixty in this time. As far as “Public Heroes” go, it is practically unheard of, and was extremely rare to find a challenging player capable of breaking the doubles and entering the triple scores. It seems as if the Australians play TF2 to just pass the time in-between CoD MWF clan matches, rather than for TF2′s sake!

The competitive side of things

Before you face palm yourself out of boredom, here’s what it was like to play competitively. I was able to participate in the Australian equivalent of a “TF2 pickup” and I somehow ended up subbing in a clan match. The logistics of the pickup are pretty much the same as is here in South Africa. Using your favourote IRC client, join the channel, add to the match and you are in. When it comes to game play these guys generally know what is going on and are extremely capable players. Players which I personally think could give some of our guys here a run for their buck.
Clan play is extremely similar to that in South Africa apart from the fact that I feel a few clans are, to be blunt, noobs. Subbing half way through this match I found myself first playing scout then moving up to pocket soldier and luckily leading the team to a tie. Many of the clans prefer point defence over our normal love for maps such as Bad Lands and Granary.
In short, I believe it is safe to say that our current stage of various tiers of clan play is ahead of that found in Australia.

Australian TF2 community

As far as an Australian TF2 community is concerned, I found no evidence to suggest that one exists anywhere on the island. Every server I connected merely posted some patch notes and the occasional advertisement for some terrible James Bond game. Again my observations point to the Australians merely play TF2 to pass the time and it is possible they are only now beginning to take TF2 more seriously and competitively.

Why should we care?

Here we are, thousands of miles away from the sheep-shearing, sniper spawning Aussies. Enjoying a life of TF2, braais and the best babes in the world (Candice Swanepoel for one, comes to mind). Why should we give a damn about whether Australians can play TF2 or not?

Given our historic and, to some extent, present feeling of isolation being stuck at the almost-bottom of the world. I think here in South Africa we often believe other areas of the world to be better than us or more competitive than us. This so-called “fact” is often used to mislead people makes them feel inferior or something equally horrid. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Australian Fortress has an ocean to cross before it gets to where we are today as a gaming Community! Good on ya, mate!

TF2CSA

The 16Bit X-Mas Invitational finals were held on Sunday the 11th of December from which R@pe walked away  as the ultimate victors. After what seemed to be an action packed competition, there were many signs of progress and growth in the local teams. The 16Bit X-Mas Invitational had many surprises and saw teams really pushing the bar and upping their game. Join Lola as she takes a look at the highlights and walks through the matches played in the finals.

Group Stages Highlights

pcZ surprised everyone by almost beating R@pe with a 3/3 draw on Granary. R@pe barely managed to win Gullywash with a final score of 2/1. pcZ scout Phenix caused havoc in the R@pe ranks as he delivered meatshot upon meatshot.

The PRIME vs R@pe group stages match ended in a draw as surprisingly R@pe took Badlands 3/2 and PRIME took Granary 2/1. These two teams ended in the finals, playing the same two maps but with very different results.

The playoff game was between UFO and PRIME. This was an extremely exciting match to spectate.  I saw some of the most brilliant demoman play in a TF2CSA competition, Goldfox can surely sing: ‘I’ve got the moves like Enemy’ .  UFO however proved to be more than able to stand their ground against PRIME and both maps ended in draws. Badlands 2/2 and Gullywash 1/1.

This competition has had the most draws that we’ve ever seen in a TF2CSA tournament. It was exciting to spectate so many matches where the winner wasn’t a foregone conclusion.

The Finals: PRIME vs. R@pe PRIME’s choice of map:  Badlands

Goldfox on demoman gets an airshot on a solly jumping him

Goldfox and Acidman dominated Badlands. Goldi would damage players with his pipes and Acid would rush in to finish them off. On all the previous matches I spectated Acid, he was running around like a loose canon. He would carelessly jump into a bunch of players to try and pick of the medic, sometimes succeeding, but mostly dying. On Badlands the PRIME scouts and demoman combo proved to be devastating. This combo dominated the map with the 2 soldiers and medic providing back up cover and capping points. Goldfox’s game awareness was an extraordinary thing to watch. Most players were just aware of the hectic battle happening around them, but I saw Goldfox instantly reacting,  be it to scouts flanking him, his teamies calling for assistance or an opponent being on low health running away. He would just sticky jump and pipe everyone to oblivion. Badlands ended with PRIME taking the map 4/2. R@pe had to come up with a counter strategy to the demo scout combo, or it was game over for them.

R@pe’s map of choice: Granary

R@pe, well, raped on Granary. We saw a complete turn around on this map. Granary has less room for the demoman to do jumps on, so PRIME was more dependent on the rest of the team to step up and deliver. We saw good strategic moves from R@pe on backcaps and waiting for more advantage when pushing up to caps. PRIME focused more on a 1on1 deathmatch style. Whisp really stepped up his demoman performance and at times pushed the PRIME players back on a solo rampage of pipes. The R@pe team work was astounding, it was as if they were attacking PRIME from all sides all the time. They  kept on throwing PRIME into a frantic state of trying to cover to many sides and therefore dividing their attention and causing weak defense lines. Both the team’s medics gave really good performances, most of the times the ubers were equally popped. With a display of good teamwork R@pe took Granary 5/0 and we were on our way to play map 3.

PRIME won melee and chose Gullywash

This is not a favourite map for R@pe, it also has more room for the demoman and scouts to cause havoc. Whisp  needed to come up with a strategy to counter the strong demoman, scout combo, and boy, did he not deliver. He again changed his team strategy, this time he didn’t focus on flanking as much but rather on ‘focus attacks’ on the medic and demoman. On both Badlands and Granary xMattx who is the R@pe roam soldier played roam like a pocket. On Gullywash we saw once again how in TF2 proper strategy plays perhaps a bigger role than skill. From the get go all that xMattx did was change his style and he played like a real roam soldier. He jumped Xombie with barely enough health to survive the jump, taking out PRIME’s medic a couple of times. R@pe’s focus on Gully was on taking out the medic and the demoman, thereby crippling PRIME so much that the rest of the team could do nothing but try and defend. Yang also did very well on keeping his teamies buffed and using well timed ubers to ensure his team’s advantage on pushes. R@pe took Gullywash with 5/1.

xMattx jumping Xombie with no regard for his own health

Congratulations R@pe!

A big congratulations to the players of R@pe from the competition organisers. The team has won themselves a cash prize of R2100  (R350 per player) courtesy of 16Bit TF, Razerfox, Zephon and Geno.

TF2CSA

Thank you note

From myself (Lolita) I would like to thank every one for their endurance, support and participation in all the competitions I have hosted in collaboration with TF2CSA. It has been an incredible experience and honour to be involved with the TF2 community and see it evolve, progress and go through all of the motions, both good and bad.

I would like to give special thanks to Razerfox for always being there to support and assist me with understanding the competitive TF2 community and getting things going; Xt3rm!n@tor for his hard work with the servers; Lola for being actively involved with the players and teams and rounding up the troops for comps; Whisp for his hand in allowing us the incredible opportunity of having international shoutcasters cast the Face-Off Challenge; FiSH for adminship and every one else’s involvement in making my competitions happen. Thank you to TF2CSA for providing a platform from which to communicate to the community. I would like to also thank IS Gaming for allowing us to use their servers, without that we could not have had our competitions this year.

To the teams!

Cheers and a heartfelt thanks to pcZ, fags and Master for loyal participation as well as the players from iMg and Vintage (oneNIGHT). You have been a driving force for 16Bit TF comps and participated with enthusiasm to grow TF2 in our country.

Future plans

16Bit TF will be hosting an Ultiduo at the end of January (more info on that next year). If all goes well, there will be prize money for this competition. I will continue to host competitions as frequently as possible in 2012. I will be hard at work getting sponsors to commit and provide prizes for tournaments. 16Bit TF will also be a part of the ladder system in 2012 for better ranking and seedings of teams.

Happy holidays to every one! Looking forward to a successful competitive year in 2012 with those who share my passion for gaming.

Lolita

TF2CSA

Zephon, captain of the long standing pcZ clan and Team Fortress 2 (TF2) veteran talks about his views of obstacles when trying to break into the competitive TF2 2 scene and how to overcome it.

Introduction

So to start with, let me introduce myself.  I am your friendly, ever supporting Zephon, “Ragebaas” to my clan-mates. If you have seen me on the pubs, I thank you for helping me on my way to get my strange scatter gun up to over 8500 kills. For those of you who frequent the pick-ups, you may recognize me as this…

P.S: That happens to be the face I pull when I have to scout against Xt3rm!n@tor

The purpose of this article is just to point out some of the challenges new teams face when trying to break into the competitive scene of TF2. Hopefully this article will provide teams with enough insight so they can overcome these obstacles and stick together long enough to make it!

Team Fortress 2, the game with the high learning curve we love so much.

Most people start out their TF2 journey the same, by rocking the vote on the public (pub) servers. Pub servers, sadly, do very little to show someone how each of the classes truly work competitively. In a pub match it is every man (and woman) out for his (or her) self, your goal not being to win the map, but instead to be MVP on your team. Communication in pubs is less about pointing out enemy positions or co-coordinating pushes and more about raging at the players on your team because from your point of view, they are not doing a good enough job ensuring you get MVP.

The negatives out of the way, pubs are good for getting a general feel of TF2. They also help out with recognising how one should take on each class (to a small degree). The main thing pub did for most of us though, is give us a hunger for the competitive scene (those of us with a pair that is, I don’t mean a physical pair, but a metaphorical pair, that way I am not discriminating against girl gamers ).

TF2 competitive, unlike most other competitive games in my opinion, is highly teamwork orientated. You can be one of the top individual players in S.A, but if your team is not coordinated and doesn’t pull their weight your team will struggle. Just being able to avoid a complete walkover against the mid-level teams takes a lot of reading, replays, and practice… and even after all that there is no guarantee you will be able to compete against the mid-level teams yet.

Murder on the point

This is one of the reasons players and teams get frustrated and then give up. But let’s be honest this is to be expected, the average gamer in my opinion is generally a lazy animal who would rather ditch a game he/she is struggling at and blame the game for being broken, rather than admit that it is their fault and put in the effort and work at getting better. That generalization moved over to the TF2 competitive scene and as a result of that TF2 competitive works as follows: A player comes from the pub scene where he rocks the proverbial socks with his/her mad heavy skills. He/she puts together a team of like-minded players and together they play against one of the established teams in a comp, they get murdered. Rather than try and learn from where they went wrong, they find it is easier to rather blame one another for their loss and as a result and the team breaks-up.

It takes time and effort to get a team to work (this cannot be stressed enough!), Operator did not just come into existence and start their domination of the TF2 scene! Severe, Vintage and Masters are where they are because of a lot of work! We at pcZ have been at this for, I think roughly around 8 or 9 months, and we still have to fight our asses off for our points in games against the guys in our division. Becoming a winning team is not easy, but heck it is darn worth it once you get there!

Having a reliable and determined team

This is what separates the best teams from the one week teams; having a group of players who are prepared to go through the time and sacrifice to make something of their team. Players who are prepared to admit when they are wrong rather than just blame the others, players who are prepared to help their team mates with their shortcomings and be prepared to take the criticism of their players and improve. Reliability is not a strong point with the TF2 competitive scene in South  Africa, often teams are going into tourneys making use of the two man substitution rule because their players’ couldn’t pitch (Although this is rather irrelevant to the topic at hand). It is crucial that when your team begins its journey everyone is on the same page with where they want to go with the project.

Conclusion (there it is over, take it and go)

To finish this off, all I can say to new teams is this: don’t be disheartened and frustrated if your team is struggling against others. TF2′s competitive scene is tough, especially here in SA with most of the teams being TF2 veterans, but if there is one thing going for it-it is that this is a community that is prepared to help people learn the game and is courteous to the new guys (with the exception of a few tools, but that is impossible to escape, regardless of the game). Keep on trying, ask for help, join pick-ups, watch replays and most of all have fun. It is and always will be a game!

TF2CSA

16Bit TF2 in collaboration with TF2CSA present the very first X-Mas Lower Tier Invitational 6 vs 6 competition. After the great dedication shown from the lower tier teams we have invited 6 teams to compete against each other for a cash prize this holiday season.

The group stages will kick off on 4 December and the finals will be on 11 December at 7pm. The format to be played is the Best of Three (BO3) format.

In keeping with the spirit of Christmas, TF2CSA is awarding small prizes for this competition. The winning team will earn R2100 (R350/player, bank details for each player must be given to Lola, prize money will be paid out on 12 December 2011.) The runner up team will get 6 hats (hats will be given to the team captain who will distribute them to his team.)

Meet the teams PanZy CrushorZ – (pcZ)

Not many of you might know the clan called ‘PanZy CrushorZ’ (pcZ). Currently they are the longest standing clan in TF2 SA history. They were created on March 8 2009 and have played in every competition they could enter.  This team is known for their courageous hearts, impenetrable high spirits, for never saying no to a challenge and for always being gentleman.

They approached me and begged to give them a lower tier only competition to end off the year. They threw money at me, flashed their ‘Pretty in Pink’ avatars around… How could I say no?!?

Pretty in Pink line up

• Zephon  (captain)
• Bl1nd (vice captain)
• UltiXorZ
• GoldenPantsMan
• Point_Blank
• Phenix
• Peng
• InHumaN
  

LeGioN – |LgN|

This team is fairly new to the TF2 competitive scene. They have the legendary medic ‘Seamonkey’ as part of the line up. They also recently added Nick ‘bluNt’ Wilkens who is well known in the Quake Live community for his rocket launcher skills. Their dedication to improving their skill level by playing regular pickups has made them a team not to be underestimated.

LeGioN-Mix line up

• sLicK (captain)
• seamonkey
• bluNt
• legacy
• Jeff
• Da Pastry
• d4n (sub)

Electronic All Stars – ‘eAs’

Duck is famous for his deadly bow. In the recent Highlander V2 competition he earned the ‘memorable moment’ in the finals by taking out an engineer, sentry gun and scout on his own, armed with only his bow. His interest in competitive TF2 was sparked and with just a small nudge he was convinced to give 6 vs 6 a go. His team consists entirely of pubbers, we wish them all the best in the (sometimes) harsh world of competitive TF2 in South Africa.

Electronic All Stars line up

• Duck (captain)
• GregoryF
• Heckers (sub)
• bOOm
• Zeph
• SpOOn
• Rija

Unbelievably Friendly Outsiders (UFO)

This team played in the recent Highlander V2 Cup. We saw some extraordinary game play from this mostly pub hero team as they walked over the competition and ended up playing in the finals. It will be interesting to see how they perform in the stricter 6 vs 6 format. Unlike Prime (see below), UFO have no problem publicising their top-secret-on-a-need-to-know-basis-only competitive player: Alien.

UFO line up

• LikaLota (captain)
• Shooter / Evil Clown (sub)
• Acrobat
• noobstick
• Splat
• CaRty
• Alien
  

R@pe

This team’s name should rather be ‘Rage’, since its founder is Whisp. His rage has scared away many a ‘wide eyed’ newbie from playing TF2 competitive and his teamies can verify that he is given to moments of utter rage.  I will definitely keep a close eye on the development of this pub team, all the best and don’t take it personally

R@pe line up

• Whisp (captain)
• Lycan
• tr@in
• Yang
• Geno
• xMattx

PRIME

This team boasts having one of the best TF2 competitive players on board. He previously played in a clan that were undefeated for a very long time. At this stage his true identity will be kept secret due to the possibility of it causing total fear and even lead to opponents canceling matches. Under his mentoring this team can definitely become a force to be reckoned with.

PRIME line up

• Ulfr (captain)
• Xombi
• Acidman
• Alphabet
• Wasabi
• Tokkelos
• Gimlief

Competition rules Round robin all teams will play each other once.

The top 2 teams will qualify to the finals to be played as B03.

Each match is played over 2 maps, and the result is worked out over both maps.

•  To win you must win both or win one and tie the other
• To lose you must lose both or lose one and tie the other
•  To draw you must tie both or win one and lose the other

Map pool

• Badlands 
• Freight
• Granary 
• Gullywash

Fixtures will be assigned by the tournament admins,(Lola & RazerFox), Zephon and Geno is also available as admins should Lola and RazerFox not be online. Info and rules

• Team Captains MUST have read the Cup Rules.
• Players must play under the nicks they have registered with.
• All participants must make sure that they have their TF2 in working condition. Players won’t be given any extra time to fix their game or Steam.
• Subs allowed as long as they are not taking part for any other team on the competition and cannot sub for more than one team on the competition.
• Subs must be approved by Lola

Match rules

• Normal Gamemode: 6on6
• Class limits: 1 medic, 1 demo, 1 heavy, 2 of the rest
• Minimum of 5 players needed to play a match
• Win limit = Point difference of 5
• Time limit 30 minutes for all non-Stop-Watch-Maps
• Golden Cap if required will be played with a time limit of 10 minutes and if no team wins the round in time the winner will be the team that has possession of the mid point.

Note: Golden cap will only be required for the finals as they will be played as Best of 3 maps.

 Have a look at the general TF2 rules here.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Standings #TeamsG/PG/WG/DG/LR/DPTS 1R@pe431026-1010 2PRIME312013-75 3(UFO)311113-124 4pcZ410315-203 5‘eAs’20021-190 G/P Games Played
G/W Games Won
G/D Games Drawn
G/L Games Lost
R/D Round Difference
PTS Points

Fixtures Date/TimeTeam vsTeamMapServer/Result 4/12-7PMpcZ‘eAs’Badlands/Freight5-0 pcZ - 4-1 pcZ 4/12-7PMUFOR@peBadlands/Freight4-2 R@pe - 3-0 R@pe 4/12-8:15PMpcZR@peGranary/Gullywash3-3 - 2-1R@pe 5-10/12‘eAs’PRIMEGranary/GullywashMatch 1 4/12-9:30PMpcZUFOBadlands/Granary5-2 UFO - 3-0 UFO 5-10/12PRIMER@peBadlands/Granary3-2 R@pe 2-1 PRIME 5-10/12pcZPRIMEFreight/Gullywash1-0 PRIME - 5-0 PRIME 5-10/12‘eAs’UFOFreight/GullywashMatch 2 5-10/12'eAs'R@peBadlands/Gullywash5-0 R@pe 5-0 R@pe 5-10/12UFOPRIMEBadlands/Gullywash2-2 1-1

R@pe vs PRIME 

Finals BO3 7PM

STV tba

TF2CSA

The Scout is a scrapper from Boston, Massachusetts with a baseball bat and a mean attitude. He’s the fastest mercenary on the battlefield, and his double jump leaves slower opponents struggling to keep up. Carrying a Scattergun, the Scout is ideal for aggressive fighting and flanking, allowing him to inflict massive close-range damage before dashing away to safety.

Join me Lola, as I try to catch up with these ‘four fast fairies’, whom we’ve all come to know as annoyingly dangerous and competent players: Stelio ‘WaRhammY’ Da Silva, Christian ‘RazerFox’ Da Silva, Brandon ‘Deacon’ Shaw, and Yasser ‘Xt3rminator’ Padia.

The Scout character portrait

The youngest of eight boys from the south side of Boston, the Scout learned early how to solve problems with his fists. With seven older brothers on his side, fights tended to end before the runt of the litter could manoeuvre into punching distance, so the Scout trained himself to run. He ran everywhere, all the time, until he could beat his pack of mad dog siblings to the fray (source: Team Fortress 2 (TF2) wiki).

Introductions

WarHammY, the scout we all love & hate at the same time.

Goldfox on WaRhammY: “WaRhammY aka Warhamster! I often ask him “HAMMY Y U SO GOOD?” and he always replies “Just.” And that pretty much sums him up, he’s just that good. I will admit he is sort of a role model for me, he took me from being an “ok” player to being one of the best, maybe even better than him (LOL Jokes). Seriously though, the Warhamster has consistently been one of the best and most prominent players in the TF2 community, without breaking a sweat might I add. Definitely the best all-rounder I’ve ever seen, he can play every single class at the highest level, and destroys some players on their main clasess where for him it’s his 3rd or 4th class. He’s a Master of all trades and a jack of none. Everyone loves him, and those who don’t just would love to be him (U JELLY?) Awesome friend and player, and mah hero! :>.”

Lola on RazerFox: “No other scout has managed to kill me as much as RazerFox, be it on pub, a pickup or a clan match. The kill is always sneaky and always from behind .  Fox is one of my favourite people of all time. “Slaving away” with him on TF2CSA has given me so much more than what I’ve put in, his sense of humour, sexy foreign accent, thought provoking outlook on life and most of all, his passion for life, has added hours of entertainment to mine. Much <3 and respect, mate.”

Deacon on Xt3rminator: “Well what can I say about this ‘charrow’. I have known X since I started playing TF2 back in the ole’ days. He was this irritating little fly that would come up behind and “try” kill me. That been said, he has always been one of the top Scout players in South Africa (SA). He made my life difficult whenever I had to medic against Equilibrium (Eq). I really got to know X better when we formed Target and then vinTage. He has a passion for this game and a desire to understand the dynamics of it as I have not seen in any other player. He has a serious will to win and pushes his team, expecting 110% from them. However out of game he is the most mellow person and always willing to have a chat or laugh. Out of all the friends I have made playing this game I have a lot of respect for X. He took a chance on a medic who wanted to play scout and worked hard on helping me get better.”

Xt3rminator on Deacon: “Yet another medic turned scout, probably the most reliable scout partner I have ever played TF2 with. Deacan listens to every call that is made and always relays valuable information back to the entire team. He learnt the class very quick and is the type of player that continuously reads guides and listens to others to learn more about the class to better himself. He has developed his own style of scouting which would baffle the common player, but this is because the common player doesn’t think about the team. The style he developed is entirely orientated around the team and not himself, and this is what makes him an asset in a clan match, especially under pressure. In a few words if someone had to ask me to describe the type of scout Deacan is, I would say an “intelligent worker”. Why intelligent? Because he thinks before he acts and is well aware of his surroundings and team mates situations. A worker because he is always trying to better himself and never ever thinks he is better than anyone else plus works for his team.”

Lola: Give a brief description of your TF2 competitive history

WaRhammY: “I started playing just after TF2 was released. I played in a clan called niG with enemy, pulsedriver and co. After niG I joined Pantheon Gaming, we won a frag LAN TF2 competition.  I also played in frenzy, swift, Nc, and finally Masters. From when I started TF2 I got into pickups and clannies within the first few weeks and been owning face ever since.”

RazerFox: “Well back in late 2008 I kinda tried the 6v6 when Dustbowl and Gravel Pit were the two top competitive maps. I really enjoyed the sniping wars, but the trend for competitive maps moved to Control Point (CP) maps, and that’s when I started to play scout. I joined team Headhunters and then Equilibrium where I played scout on a competitive level.”

Deacon: “I started playing TF2 because of my friend Orr4cle who at that time was playing for Criminal Misfits (CM). It looked like so much fun. After pubbing a bit I joined a team called Wicked as pretty much any class they needed, though I mostly played Soldier at that time. I used to play a lot of Medic on pub. WhiteWolf, a member of team Zodiac at the time messaged me after a pub map and asked me to try out for his team as Medic. He told me I moved funny for a medic and that made me hard to hit. This was really the beginning of my TF2 competitive gaming journey. We had a solid team and work hard together to get to a high level. I still have a lot of friends from ZodiHACK!”

Xt3rminator: “I have been playing TF2 since October 2007, I mistakenly purchased it while overseas because it was so cheap (R70). I just fell in love with it after playing it the first time.  Initially I tried to play various classes but none of them felt as comfortable to me as the Scout. I played in a clan known as TJO back in 2007, and then formed a clan called |KAN| with a bunch of friends. We weren’t the most competitive bunch, but we tried and sometimes it came off, but most of the time it didn’t. Later I created Equilibrium, which had some success and always had a changeable yet solid line up. I then disbanded Eq` to form a lower tier team to help others get better, this way three new clans formed. I then tried playing Soldier and had a lot of fun, but when you are not playing your favourite class you always see the flaws in the scouts playing with you. I stopped playing mid 2011, but returned to make vinTage with some of my players from the original Eq`. This has been fun and hard work, but playing scout again brought the joy back into the game for me. I sadly will be taking a leave of absence probably more permanent than my previous as I am looking forward to personal things in my life.”

Lola: Why do you prefer to play Scout?

Lolita “But isn't the Scout like a self loving Yankee with an attitude?”

WaRhammY: “Well I like scout because it has a lot of utility, a good scout combo can totally control the way a team has to play. I mainly play scout though because there are not many people that can play a strong scout and then swap to sniper/spy and still own.”

RazerFox: “Well I like speed so maybe that’s why, it’s the fastest moving class! The ability to delivery meatshots (hitting all/most of the pellets from the Scattergun  into the enemy for maximum damage, 2 meatshots kill every class apart from the Heavy and an overhealed Soldier or Demoman) are also a big plus.”

Deacon: “Well having played Medic for an eternity, I was really getting bored of TF2, and was ready to call it quits. X whom I have known from the beginning told me that Eq will be breaking up and that he wanted to start a low division team. He asked me to help him coach the players. The added benefit was that I was not allowed to play Medic. The choice was simple, Scout – I enjoy the added speed the class brings to the game, but most of all I like the fact the he is the ultimate team player. He caps points, finishes off weak players and still has the ability to do something crazy and change the game (like a back cap and kill spree), but with all this you have to be thinking the whole time because you can get yourself and your team in a lot of trouble thinking you a little too big for your boots.”

Xt3rminator: “I am a vocal character and scout is the class with the most speed, therefore having the ability to see more happening on the battle field. The Scout needs to pass as much info as he can to the rest of his team so that they can act on it.”

Lola: What special configs (cfg), settings and head-up display (HUD) do you use?

WaRhammY: “I use QuakeHud and a fps config from Quad.”

RazerFox: “I just use the fps config by Chris, broeselhud and a field of view (FOV) of 90, the rest are all set to standard settings.”

Deacon: “I use Garm3n HUD, the Movement Script – which allows my key pushes to work independently of each other, and the crouch jump interp change script, it’s easier to register hits on certain players when I lower my interpolation.

Xt3rminator: “In my Scout cfg I have the following, rate 30000; cl_cmdrate 66; cl_updaterate 66; cl_interp 0.1 (100ms); cl_interp_ratio 1; r_drawviewmodel 0.  As for the HUD,  I have tried various, since a  HUD makes a big difference to gameplay and ease of play. My two favourites are the QuakeHud and Garm3n HUD.”

Lola: Do you have a unique strategy depending on who plays as your Scout partner, or do you always play Scout in the same way?

RazerFox, the scout who is sneaky and likes to come from behind

WaRhammY: “It really depends on who we play against and who I’m scouting with. If it’s someone I can count on I generally play more aggressive, if it’s someone I’m not used to then I tend to play more defensively – watching the flanks and so on.”

RazerFox: “Yes, it really does make a difference for me if I’m not playing with my partner, because you usually can predict your partner’s positioning and movement, which allows us to sync much easier while in game.  That having been said, when I’m playing with someone else I easily adapt to avoid risks and I communicate more.”

Deacon: “Mostly I try playing the same sort of game. I’m not so strong in Death Match (DM), so I try to play with my team or Scout partner most of the time. I allow them to make the push and giving me the opportunity to add the support. Mostly I just try doing my job. Sometimes in a map I will have no kills but be second on the scoreboard because of caps.”

Xt3rminator: “This depends on if I am playing a pickup or a clan match, but I do tend to focus on the same things being, the relay of info, capping, and taking advantage of opportunities as it arises. The Scout that I trusted the most to partner with in the past was RazerFox, and since vinTage it has been Deacan, with these two players I can just focus on enjoying the game and playing to my maximum potential. My play style is more focused on to know what the other scout is doing and devising a way to make that work for the team, than sticking together with the other scout all the time.”

Lola: What scout loadout do you prefer and why?

WaRhammY: “Scatter Gun, Pistol, and HolyMackerel. The Scatter Gun at medium to close range with its 6 shots before reload is by far the stronger. I like the Pistol to pick off people running away, the Holy Mackerel is just to troll.”

RazerFox: “I use the standard loadout because I like Vanilla ice cream and it’s good enough for me .”

Deacon: “I’m a Vanilla fan through and through. I’m a firm believer that the quality of the game has decreased with every update since the Medic one, but to me the vanilla plus medic unlocks in my mind gives the most balanced gameplay possible.”

Xt3rminator: “Stock, it’s the only viable option in 6v6.”

Lola: What is your favourite scout map and why?

WaRhammY:  “Gullywash, there are a lot of places to use to gain height advantages, back capping and just generally be a nuisance.”

RazerFox: “Badlands, I prefer the freedom of movement this map provides for the Scout.”

Deacon: “Pretty much all the competitive maps, but if I had to choose I would probably go with Granary. Although it’s pretty linear, I like the dynamic of it. Also it’s a pretty flat map with big open spaces. I’m not a big on jumping, I prefer to stay grounded so this kind of helps me.”

Xt3rminator: “Badlands, the layout of the terrain makes it exciting and gives the Scout a lot of opportunities to cap, back cap and frag.”

Lola: What is your least favourite scout map and why?

WaRhammY: “Granary, it’s just so flat in its layout and it mostly makes for boring games.”

RazerFox: “My love for TF2 is so BEEG that I would jam in the worst rated map without any problems. If  I had to choose though, I would say that tight maps like Granary where splash damage from walls and crates can cause a lot of problems for Scouts.”

Deacon: “My worst competitive map of all time is Gravel Pit. I feel it is so segmented and lacks any feeling of flow. It’s all too predictable.”

Xt3rminator: “Granary, there are only two ways to push from middle point, or to middle point, making it really hard for a Scout to go unnoticed and take full opportunity of doing what a Scout does best, frag and cap. It is a spam-fest on middle point, making it really hard to play, and it is essential that your own heavy classes also deliver focused spam.”

Lola: What is the primary role of the Scout in 6 vs 6?

WaRhammY: “Capping points, dealing with scouts, watching flanks and doing a lot of calling. Pretty much a combo of these that make out the role for a scout, it’s not just one thing.”

RazerFox: “First of all as the front line and eyes of the team, it’s calling the enemy’s positioning. The more feedback you can give to your the team the easier it will be for decision making. Then at the same time Scouts are keeping an eye on the opponents positions and actions in order to supply that feedback. Scouts also keep a check on the flanks, where the opponent’s scouts are, and if the Demoman and Medic are in a compromising position where they can get picked. Scouts also could call for the team to be aggressive and take out key players by flanking. The flanking part is like a “mop” job where we are there to clean up the enemy, taking on low health opponents or those not keeping an eye on their flanks.

Deacon: “Well this depends on the game situation, but mostly protect your teams flanks and Demoman from other scouts. Cap points and finish off weak players. All this can be done by having good clear communication. Call what is important and not what hat that scout has on .”

Xt3rminator: “The relay of info and capping.”

Lola: What is the Scout’s strengths?

WaRhammY: “Movement, speed, and medium to short range combat damage. Being able to use double jump to overcome obstacles, and get to places most classes can’t. To just generally being a pain in the ass to the other team .”

RazerFox: “Quick mobility and a very powerful scatter gun.”

Deacon: “Well besides the obvious speed, double jump and massive damage output from close range, I would say the Scouts ability to seize small advantages his team creates quickly. You need to be awake here and thinking as a player. It’s amazing the amount of damage a pair of scouts can do if they slip past unnoticed and get behind, like back caps and critical kills. You can stall the other team’s advantage completely by just being alive and behind them, giving your team valuable time to regroup.”

Xt3rminator: “Valve’s intentions for the Scout were its ability to change direction quickly, double jump, the ability to finish off in close combat and to me the most important strength, capping twice as fast as any other class.”

Lola: What is the Scouts weaknesses?

WaRhammY: “Low health percentage (HP) and the lack of long range damage dealing.”

RazerFox: “Unfortunately low heath, 125 doesn’t enable to “tank like a baws”, but I guess it is balanced with the dodging and quick movement ability the Scout has.”

Deacon: “He has no HP…. but besides that I would have to say team work. Either from your side as a scout or as a team. If you have no team work in your game you better enjoy running out of spawn.”

Xt3rminator: “Having 125 HP and over extending due to being blessed with superior speed.”

Lola: A lot of people play Scout, but what are the skills that would set you apart as exceptional in the class?

Deacon, all his pocket money goes into buying a new mouse, since he broke the previous one 'caus he couldn't take out that medic.

WaRhammY: “Overall game sense and experience.”

RazerFox: “Well I guess you need a good combination of aim and game sense that can blend with discipline. All of these can be improved by training. I would say that discipline is key in order to play properly, even if you don’t have the greatest aim or super game sense. With discipline you can learn to avoiding unnecessary risks, like frag hunting on your own and suicidal moves (unless you can pull off a ‘Bruce Willis Die Hard stunt’ ). If you need better aim just find your sensitivity sweet spot and play some 1v1 scouts to fine tune it. Game sense will come with experience, trying to soak in as much info as you can from the better scouts and be at the right time at the right place, you will learn to almost predict your own destiny in game.”

Deacon: “I wouldn’t see myself as exceptional by a long shot, but the main thing I try to work on every game is teamwork and game sense. Being able to read and react to certain situations. Just a tip for new players playing Scout. Spot watching all these scout frag videos where you see these guys go in and get 5 kill streaks and what not. It looks all spectacular and shit but what the clever scout has not shown you is all the work the rest of his heavy classes have done by doing all the damage. It’s not your job to Rambo into a fully buffed team. Read the game and think a bit.”

Xt3rminator: “Simply said, I do the most basic thing correctly, and that is ‘cap the point.’”

Lola: Movement is the scouts main ability. Elaborate on how you use this to your advantage in competitive play.

WaRhammY: “Jump like a monkey on acid when you around a Demoman or Soldier,  just strafe around Scouts.”

RazerFox: “I would say that dodging is the number one use of it for me, as you really need to dodge well to stay alive when under pressure. Then the ability to be sneaky enables you to flank the enemy much easier and retreating from danger as well.”

Deacon: “It’s all about being unpredictable. Using footing on maps allows Scouts to get to funny positions or around the flanks quicker, but remember the key word is unpredictable. Some Scouts just jump around all the time. You know straight away who the player is just because of all the jumps. They hardly hit anything so it’s pretty much a waste.”

Xt3rminator: “Movement is a big ability of the Scout if used correctly. You often get scouts that go head to head with a soldier combo, and then trying to jump randomly in order to kill them, only to fail and die. To me that is not using the movement ability, it is just playing plain stupid. Using the scout’s movement ability is key if coupled together with his opportunistic arrogance and taking the enemy by surprise. I’ve practised this a lot and I believe that I do it very well.”

Lola: In your opinion, how important is it to play MGE in order to work on your aim?

WaRhammY: “For a Scout MGE doesn’t hold much value to be honest, playing pickups and clannies have more value.”

RazerFox: “Surely MGE and DM game modes can improve your game, but when it comes to aim accuracy I prefer to only play a couple of hours every week just to keep my aim on form. A 6vs6 game is better practice in my opinion.”

Deacon: “I believe aim is broken up into two things – actual mouse aim and positioning. MGE will help with both, so in my opinion, it’s very important. A Scout will probably find himself in a good number of DM situations during a clannie, and let’s face it ,any game time is helping you improve.”

Xt3rminator: “MGE has benefits but not to the scout imo. MGE gameplay focuses on one enemy that has a certain configuration and style of play, when you play a 6v6 match there are 6 enemy’s to consider that have different play styles and evading the enemy and assisting your team is your priority. So for a scout I think MGE is a waste of time. Players with good aim always do well in MGE but this rarely converts to a 6v6 success.”

Lola: Do you prioritise any class to target in 6 vs 6?

WaRhammY: “Scouts, Demoman and Medic.”

RazerFox: “Depending on the circumstances yes, at mid battles I focus on the opponent Scouts, then the Demoman, and then the Medic. When we are flanking ,the Medic or Demoman are the ‘Most Wanted’.”

Deacon: “This too depends on the situation and the map. Mid fights are usually about keeping the other Scouts in check. For me, in open play, Demoman is my first priority, because of his damage output and second the Medic. Other than that any player called out as low on hp from my team.”

Xt3rminator: “Generally the Demoman, but you often have to track where the enemy scouts are so that they do not ambush your team’s medic.”

Lola: Give a brief description on how you approach taking down each class that you play against.

WaRhammY: “Scouts, just strafe a lot to make it hard to hit and get up close to get meat shots. Demoman, get close to avoid the stickies.  Soldier, get on top of him or stay at a medium range to get some damage off while dodging rockets. Every other class you want to get close enough to get those meat shots off and do maximum damage quickly.”

RazerFox: “Well it will always be best to flank any of them, but vs Scouts it’s always a gamble if you try take on a 1vs1. I try to get the first shot in, so that when the Scout tries to dodge he might lose accuracy while trying to hit you, it improves your chance to win. Soldier, you have to really get closer (flanking of course) to meatshot him at least twice, then back off a good distance while shooting with the Pistol. Keep in mind to time your jumps when the Soldier try to pump you with rockets. Demoman, while making sure you don’t step on the stickies (if you are face to face), you need to be really close by the time the Demoman places stickies, this will force him into the decision of suicide. If he switches to pipes the best way is to zigzag with jumps to avoid getting a pipe in your face.”

Deacon: “Scout, a coin toss really, pretty much comes down to who has a boost and who gets the first shot. I just try position the scout into my optimal hit zone and hope I get lucky. Demoman, charge him when there are stickies and jump a bit when the pipes come out. Soldier, if you can get the good meatshot off by surprise then it’s all gravy, otherwise get a good scatter gun shot off and retreat with your pistol. He might not die but neither will you, but you’ll force him back until your team can come finish him off. Don’t allow him to draw you into tight spaces. You lower you odds of success drastically by this. Medic, I hate killing medics. Don’t charge them head on. Needles will cut a scout down quickly. Jump around a bit and make it tough for him. Be aware when chasing him round a corner that you don’t get a bone saw to the face as you come round.”

Xt3rminator: “I have never given this much thought. When approaching a lone scout, demoman or soldier, conditions are pretty similar, if you land your first shot you tend to win.”

Lola: Why is it so important for a scout to know each competitive map through and through?

WaRhammY: “You need to know how to get behind your enemy, how to avoid them, how to run away, and how to hide.”

RazerFox: “If you don’t know where you are and where you are supposed to be going, then you are as dead as a fish out of the water and becomes a loophole where the opponents can slip through to damage your team.”

Deacon: “In order to take advantage of the scout’s movement capabilities one does need to know the maps. Also since you on the flanks most of the time, you will not always with your Medic. Knowing where medpacks and ammo drops are can help you stay alive and add value for your team.”

Xt3rminator: “You are the scout, the class that relays information in detail to you team, you need to know the maps thoroughly so that the rest of your team can act on it.”

Lola: What has been your best moment in TF2 as a scout?

WaRhammY: “Practically every match I play I make awesome moments, so it’s hard to remember just one .”

RazerFox: “The day I got my first hat for it! Batters helmet was awesome.  Okay seriously, I had some fun times at Equilibrium back in the day with X.”

Deacon: “I have had so many great memories in this game, but as Scout I would have to say winning the last 16Bit Face Off challenge with viNtage. I don’t think anyone gave us a chance of coming out on top but I am in a team with not only great players but awesome people, who have been willing to work hard on the basics. I hope to continue enjoying this game with these guys in the future.”

Xt3rminator: “When I played in KAN, we played against Brazen and if I remember correctly I killed all 6 of them on mid and we actually rolled them in that round. I think this was the first time we ever scored a cap against Brazen (that any team scored against them), as they were extremely powerful (this was before they stopped for a while).

Lola: When do you change class?

Changing to auxiliary (usually only one of the scouts changes class, therefore answered by WaRhammY and Xt3rminator only)

Xt3rminator, the scout that floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

WaRhammY: “When the situation calls for it, example, if we on defence and enemy team has über advantage, I like to change to spy to get a Medic pic. On offence I change to sniper or spy to try and do the same. Mainly when its a last point defend or attack situation.”

Xt3rminator: “I have only started doing it recently as I have been pubbing a bit of sniper. This only happens if we are attacking last point or defending last point. Usually when you need to create an advantage for your team.”

Lola: When do you change to Sniper, Spy, Engineer, Pyro or Heavy?

WaRhammY: “Sniper or spy when you are attacking last point. Heavy and Engineer to defend last point.”

Xt3rminator: “As I said in the above.”

Lola: Give a brief description on how to best play each of these classes.

WaRhammY: “Sniper is super fragile and doesn’t have great mobility, so you want to play it with a Scout or the Soldier-Medic combo around you. Basically, just sit back and get as many head shots as you can to help your team get pics. Spy, use it when the situation is dire, as if done to often, a team will be looking for a spy. I try to only do it once or twice when we on the back foot and really need to stop their team from pushing our last. Heavy and Engineer is always a good idea when holding last.”

Xt3rminator:“I think those so called utility classes work similar to the Scout, you have to be opportunistic and catch the enemy by surprise.”

Lola: What has been your best moment in an auxiliary class in 6vs6 TF2?

WaRhammY: “Pretty much taking out 3/4 guys as Spy just as your team wants to push in. Or acing a team with head shots while your teams is struggling to capture spire.”

Xt3rminator: “We played swift on Badlands and I changed to Backburner Pyro and wiped them on middle point, as I approached from their sh*thouse, I think this was the first time this was attempted and I saw it at the time in an international demo where Mike Marcin aka Jaeger pulled it off. During that time the Backburner critted four times the damage or something ridiculous like that.”

Lola’s note

These four all get the 'pro scout' badge

My primary class in 6 vs 6 is medic, I learned quickly to make peace with ‘death by scout’. In my ‘it’s over over 90o0′ hours as medic, I’ve come to notice a few very peculiar character traits of all the people that play scout. Each one of them has at least one very predominant quirk that defines them, maybe this is a prerequisite in order to excel in the class . Allow me to explain: WaRhammY has an exceptionally high opinion of his own abilities (with the track record to justify this), RazerFox is as cool and composed as they can come (has anyone ever heard this man rage or loose his cool?), Deacon has a private collection of  ‘I threw this mouse there during that match’ (it got so bad at a stage that he ran out of money to buy a new mouse that Whisp had to give him his older ones), and lastly Xt3rminator, his rage is infamous (he had many a clan mate crying for their mommy’s and considering permanently quitting TF2, only to be convinced to just try again when X started apologizing after match). We can look at Andy, Takbok, Sentient the Jew to name only a few of the other mad scouts we’ve come to know over the years. This we know for sure though, they’ve all made our lives hell as we’ve played against them, but they have also surely forced us to up our game, and for that, we thank them.

This concludes my ‘class series’ of interviews, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to sit down with me and share their experiences and their Facebook pics and allowed me to make a li’l fun of them. My next series will be with the intriguingly, interesting individuals who run TF2CSA and those who contribute to us being able to play this game we all love so much.

TF2CSA

Sunday 30 October 2011 saw the finals of tf2csa Highlander V2. The match was shoutcasted by the legendary “rager” Skillbill and Andy. Let’s take a closer look at our two finalists, and some of the most exciting moments.

ETF2L Highlander

Team Biltong Buddies [BB]

On the favourite side, with seventeen votes to win was [BB], with six competitive players and three pub hero’s. The line up consisted of, Kung Fu (captain) on Demoman, Heckers on Soldier, Spaaaaace on Spy, Duck on Sniper, Fair on Heavy, X on Scout, CromaT on Medic, Da_Pastry on Pyro and Pooman_Sam on Engineer.

Team Unbelievable Friendly Outsiders (UFO)

With ten votes to win we had the underdogs, UFO, with only three competitive players and six pub hero’s. The line up consisted off, LikaLota… (captain) on Pyro, Alien on Sniper, Acrobat on Soldier, CaRty on Spy, Baron on Engineer, SpOOn on Medic, Semper on Demoman, Seamonkey on Scout, and (El)apid on Heavy.

Map 1: Upward

Upward is a Payload map with multiple control points in the same round. The Blu team’s primary goal is to guide the cart on its tracks throughout the map. By continuously pushing the cart forward and breaking through Red’s defensive positions, the bomb will detonate and the Blu team will be victorious. Failure to push the cart forward by having team mates near it will eventually result in the cart slowly moving backwards after a period of time, eroding your team’s past progress. Opposite the Blu team’s objective, the team function of Red, as a group, is to deter and stall the Blu team and prevent them from advancing the bomb to its final destination. By fighting off their opposition for a long enough period of time, the Red team will be victorious.

UFO had CaRty as Heavy vs Fair to box out for the choice of defence or attack. CaRty is a legend when it comes to all things Heavy, so it was no surprise when he walked over Fair. UFO chose to play as Red and defend first.

Gameplay with UFO on defence and BB on attack

Kung Fu taking out 6 UFO players, BB pushes to last. Notice CaRty jumping in from behind.

BB’s strategy throughout the map was to keep as many players on the cart and to ‘focus attack’ on the UFO players that would be a threat to the consistent moving of the cart. Their experience as competitive players with regards to the calling of enemy player positions and threat level greatly assisted them in executing this strategy.

Unforgettable moment

At the final control point Kung Fu and CromaT took out almost the whole UFO with kritz. BB pushed the cart right up to the ramp, but just as it was about to fall into the pit, CaRty managed to back stab three players and got a kill assist, hereby giving his team the time they needed to re-spawn. UFO then pulled off a heroic defence. They managed to keep the whole of BB away from the entry into final cap. Da_Pastry flanked UFO and managed to push the cart a second or two, but he was stopped by great teamwork from Acrobat who got a rocket bounce and Alien who finished him off with a terrific sniper air shot.

How it ended

Acrobat bouncing Da_Pastry and Alien finishing him off with a sniper air shot.

BB had Fair do a bottom flank to take out SpOOn, this was seen and called by Semper, but UFO failed to respond in time and lost their medic. Once again Kung Fu and CromaT used kritz and took out two more UFO players. This final pushed was executed to perfection as the rest of BB pushed as 1 unit and managed to set the cap time at 9:20.

Game play UFO on attack and BB on defence

CaRty takes out three BB players (Fair not in shot) and stops the final cap.

UFO’s attack strategy was very different to BB’s. They had fewer players on the cart pushing and focused more on a death match attack style. This resulted in BB picking off UFO players one-by-one with a unified defensive front. From the third cap they changed their strategy to more players on the cart pushing and almost managed to pull of a win.

Unforgettable moments.

We saw one of the most entertaining and extraordinary Spy moments in TF2CSA by CaRty. He threw the whole of BB into complete disarray throughout the attack, and at times caused their communication to melt down to a frantic “Guys our medic again!” refrain.

How it ended

With CaRty causing havoc in the BB ranks, UFO managed to keep a unified non stop push on the cart right from third to the final cap. With the twenty five second announcement the cart was in the final cap area, but BB just managed to hold them on the ramp for those few crucial seconds.

Conclusion

Although BB had the much stronger competitive player line up, UFO almost managed to beat them. The difference wasn’t in the higher skill level, but rather in the better communication that is learned from playing competitive TF2. With just a slight improvement in calling, I’m sure we can expect to see a pub team winning Highlander. This was an exciting and entertaining match to watch, well played!

Map 2: Turbine

Turbine is a Capture the Flag (CTF) map. To win, the player’s team must capture the opposing team’s intelligence. Winning is either by 1st team to cap 5, or by most caps in thirty minutes.

Gameplay

Duck taking out the engineer, his sentry gun and then the scout.

UFO managed to pull of the very first cap, but thereafter BB just kept up wave after wave of attack on UFO’s intelligence, and managed to pull of five consecutive caps. BB played very aggressive throughout the match and kept UFO on defence most of the time. Both sides had players making unnecessary mistakes, like ubers failing, not calling enemy positions and an overall breakdown in proper communication. UFO did manage to secure the middle section a couple of times, but they couldn’t manage to capture the intelligence. With a final score of  5:1 in less than thirty minutes, BB secured the overall title 2-0 and are deserved winners of TF2CSA Highlander V2.

Unforgettable moments

Da_Pastry pulled of some fancy Pyro Blow Jobs, but it was’ Duck with the Bow’ that gets my Unforgettable Moment. While the whole of his team was pushing on the right side up the steps, he took on the Engineer alone. He managed to kill the Engineer, then take out the Sentry Gun, pushed through to intelligence on less than 60 health, killed seamonkey and was finally killed by Alien as he was trying to cap. Hax is all I’m saying 

Final word from event organiser, RazerFox

“Having eight teams of nine players each can be considered a really good turn out, and from next year we will run Highlander tournaments more often. Hopefully with the popularity of this game mode we could implement a ladder system for Highlander teams that would like to dedicate their time to growing this mode of competitive play. I would like to thank everyone that took part in this competition and I hope to see more players from both pub and comp join in next year.”

TF2CSA

The Highlander v2 finals will take next place this Sunday – 30 October.  [BB] and UFO will meet to play for the title over the best of 3 maps (BO3).

Both teams emerged unbeaten from their groups and it is a mouth watering prospect to check out. The UFO team has more pub players in their roster and they really were a solid team during the group stage. They managed to pip the likes of Krad’s Minions and Autobots who seemed to be the favourites to get through to the finals but UFO managed to take the edge on them.

In the other group [BB] and mC were the favorite teams to fight for the top spot and with both of them having won 2 matches already their meeting was going to be interesting. But [BB] showed better teamwork to take the win on Turbine leaving mC peeps a bit stuck.

Key players

The [BB] team with a roster of mainly competitive players we could say they pretty much know what to do but I would have to say DesertDuck’s mastering of the bow proved to be deadly during the group stage and he could be the real threat for the finals.

However UFO’s roster has a good combination of competitive and pub players making them real pub hero’s with some wise peeps that are very comfortable playing on the pub maps. CaRty’s team management and Alien’s smart gameplay will be their strongest assets.

Final [BB] vs UFO

• Date: Tonight 30th October
• Time: 8:00PM
• STV:  on console type: connect 196.38.180.45:27022
• Shoutcast: Mumble IS-TF2 Shoutcasting channel
• Maps: Upward – Turbine

BO3 (Best of 3 Maps) from the map pool (Upward; Viaduct; Turbine; Granary; Gravelpit), each team will pick a map of their choice. If a 3rd decider map is required, Heavy’s will have to fist fight (no gloves) and the winner will pick the map from the maps left in the map pool. Best of luck to both teams!

Vote now! Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

TF2CSA

After a record number of entries for an online competition (173), we are now down to the final 8 players, who will battle it out for their share of R12 800.
Out of the four Mint Gaming players that started out in the competition, two Mint Gaming players are left. Marius 'Stripe' Van De Merwe and Ryan 'CryTT' Odoherty. Both will have challenging games, but CryTT will face the number one seed for the tournament, Shase. Whilst Stripe will be facing ValpraX, a player well known for his achievements in Warcraft 3.
[toggle=read more]
Whats interesting is that two relatively unknown players have made it through to the final 8, Claudio 'Raziel' De Marco and Gerrit 'ZXRP' Goosen. The final 8 have all been guaranteed prizes with this round determining the final 4. Below you can find the match-ups.

bvd.Shase vs mint * CryTT
Raziel vs [xTc]Hank
V|PandaTank vs ZXRP
mint * Stripe vs V|ValpraX [/toggle]

Today Mint Gaming is sad to announce that the organisation will be parting ways with its Heroes of Newerth team after 6 months of partnership between the two.
Mint Gaming's CEO, Daniel 'merc' Balusik had the following to say:

"Having discussed this will management, we feel that change was needed, which resulted in the Mint Gaming organisation no longer being able to cater for our Heroes of Newerth team. It is sad that we had to let go a bunch of such talented individuals but there was a lack of communication on their part, and anyone in a position of management knows it is vital for both parties to communicate extensively. They did the organisation proud for the months they were with us and we thank them for all they have done. We wish them well for the future. "

After a well deserved break the Mint Starcraft 2 team, is ready for the 2011 season. Having achieved an amazing 20 top 5 finishes, with 13 of those being podium placings the Mint Starcraft 2 team will be hoping for similar success in the new year.

Being the largest online Starcraft 2 competitions in South Africa to date, over 200 players will be fighting it out for their share in R12 800. Three Mint Gaming players will be participating in the competition, the first being Marius 'Stripe' Van De Merwe, who has managed to surprise the community by placing well in the PolarfluKe series, his latest achievement being a 3rd in the PolarfluKe: All in competition. Then we have Mint's star Zerg player, George 'KreefLewer' Bence who made his mark on the South African scene by placing third at the Megarom Starcraft 2 Exhibition tournament in Johannesburg.

The newest addition to the Mint Starcraft 2 team, Daniel 'Spinks' Viller will also be participating, but him and Bevan 'LegOlas" Van Wijk will be looking to impress as 2010 was a quiet season for both players as they had personal commitments to attend to.[toggle=read more]

Players placing from 1st to 8th can expect prize money, so there is a lot to battle for. Having 215 entries, Do Gaming has decided on 32 groups consisting of 7 players each, who will battle it out to see who makes it through to the next round. The big four MGO's have been represented, as well as other smaller up and coming MGO's such as xTc.

The prize distribution is as follows:

1st R6000.00
2nd R2200.00
3rd R1200.00
4th R1000.00
5th to 8th R600.00

Below are the groups for the entire tournament, you will notice in group 3 that both Stripe and Kreef have been placed together. Spinks will be in group 9 while you will be able to find LegOlas listed in group 17. Other notable mentions include CryTT, otherwise known as xeRa, who plays in the Mint.DotA team, also listed in group 9.

Group 1

Shase
Eagle18
MinionOfWar
deek
Ghost-99
Ragemerc

Group 2

PandaTank
Bananarama
Maklik
tokoloshe
Devilking
Kazi

Group 3

stripe
Pavarotti
KreefLewer
Zagan
Scorpion
UltraLord

Group 4

mcnoob
ReVrEnGe
YYPanda
MiNioN
Candle
RaxXx'y

Group 5

Hank
[HF]Gho5tWor3
froZen_bulLet
Sillicur
Red
MattZoR

Group 6

seem
diEoxidE_ZA
Delta
BlOuB52
Perdition
Roger_The_Rogue

Group 7

szarko
amazinmic
Cleric
decnalabmi
The Annoying Orange
Bos
phANT1m

Group 8

strom
Johnnie
oblix
Frikecia
DarkDRAGON
Octurian
ZiRaX

Group 9

CryTT
Cloudster
Spinks
Slinkee
JIN
Evax
Duke

Group 10

the economist
Stellar
DeathBrth
Scuderia
Nexorsist
Zeratul
ZombieZerg

Group 11

valprax
OkamiWolf
moose007
GeelHaarMonster
ChAoTiCK
havok
Skerwe

Group 12

lambda
Slik
Equinox
ReTcHeD
Jaman
JiN
Ultima

Group 13

warlord zim
wookie777
Debo
Bakchiadai
Lasbal
GaroX
Raziel

Group 14

dislekcia
JuLES
Phearer
Vergo
Bl@ckW1dow
Totoro
dynamic

Group 15

slade
XeLmyPaL
bLuuMz
EnVy
J-dog
EnderZoro
Atomicdomb

Group 16

ratthing
aoRrushMePlz
Bishopking_EvoX
MajorPAIN
LiquidSpeed_ZA
Bonkers
Roady

Group 17

enjoy
Trolloks
Dio
Scourge
skirge
OAjR
LegOlas

Group 18

vortex
EnderNalog
Baiekoeie
LntLulzalott
ElectricDeath
jimz0r
zapdez

Group 19

twitch
Phoenix101
enemy
Se7enwolf
Betelgeuce
fluKe
Nightwatch

Group 20

TenthPlanet
TheGift
M0tter
ZaPer
Recoil
webejame
Particles

Group 21

Necrotiacah
Cort
kaboos
RDK
mXy
Principe
Levi

Group 22

Phearer
Phixius
Monstahrous
sLYchoPs
vital
Fanaticit
RoBoHoBo

Group 23

Celebrien
TriGunXR
HashlinG
Vexo
SpcMarcus
SLicK

Group 24

Yeti
DaRkVsLiGhT
School_Work
Maximus
Kalekin
Ajay

Group 25

Snow2011Man
GG Noob
St3baS
Bloodhound
b1nd3r
aoRcesc

Group 26

Cretixy
ZXRP
nonroker
SupaFly
Harties
NircoticS

Group 27

mUsN1t
Betty
Doomsday
CryonicMaestro
Palace
EnderLoveCook

Group 28

Darkbanana
mizu
La_Chupacabra_ZA
volvie
Ulah
CliveA

Group 29

Quantum
Teran0vA
Triscal
BushMonkeY
SpeenSeun
Alcardu

Group 30

biosystems
Despicableme
Unable
Mogar
Vendetta17ZA
Numb

Group 31

joint
Cerberus
MoMak
SoLo
Sakkie
snake eyezz

Group 32

Ress
Hoender
ICEMAN
Dareno
Aequitas
Lucidity|SS|

[/toggle]

Mint Gaming would just like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year, it has been a year to remember and we couldn't have done it without your support. A very special mention has to go out to the staff at Frontosa, LazyGamer and Web Africa, as well as all the Mint fans and players who have helped the organisation achieve all of it's goals for 2010.

We will be back in full force in 2011, where you can expect even more from the organisation. So stay tuned and stay safe.

Kind regards
Mint Gaming management.

It is time for one of the biggest offline Counter-Strike: Source competitions to date, with some fierce competition out there, there is about 6 teams that could all take the title of being the best team in the country.
Having done predictions on MPLD as well as BOTC, I have had an opportunity to see how teams perform both online and on LAN. With that being said I will name my top five teams, so please bare in mind that these are of my own personal opinion and you are welcome to comment and give your own predictions as well. [toggle=read more]

1. Mint Gaming
Lineup: LatencY (c), Korupt, suppLy, ShazzChckL, anthem

What a year it has been for the young team, they managed to win their first ever competition they took part in (BOTC) and placed second at their first ever LAN (MPLD October). Unfortunately the team is without it's full lineup as VamoozE has taken some personal time off, but playing in his place will be anthem. A player who played for the Mint team at rAge 09 where they placed 5th. This time , however, the new Mint team has an amazing lineup which incorporates both individual skill and aim, as well as a vast knowledge of the game. The team will no doubt be one of, if not thee favourite to win the competition.

2. Pantheon Gaming
Lineup: Craan (c), deviaNt, gremzz, Zeo, kustoM_

This is a team that has impressed throughout the year, they managed to place a very respectable 4th in BOTC, taking 3rd at MPLD July and then 1st at MPLD October, so they have consistently grown over the course of the year. If kustoM is able to play the same game as he displayed at MPLD October, Pantheon could win it. However, the team has also undergone a recent lineup change, and that was replacing former teammate fOrce with rising talent gremzz, something xTc can't be too happy about.

3. Bravado
Lineup: cent (c), detrony, HackeM, racno, konvict

After a fairly mediocre season, due to constant lineup changes, Bravado will be looking to impress. Their best performance this year was placing second behind c7e at MPLD. However, this team hasn't undergone a lineup change in a while which could work in their favour, judging by the amount of time their players have been playing over the past couple of weeks they have the potential to place even higher.

4. MTheory
Lineup: trAumA (c), tiNyskApie , Lag_Beast, ACh3, NEUT

I really wanted to place them in the top 3 but after looking at their lineup it soon hit me, there are just far too many 'awpers' in this team. There are three players who, when they have an awp, can decimate most teams single handedly but too many awps could prove troublesome in clutch situations. The recent acquisition of NEUT and Lag_Beast doesn't help either. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't mind NEUT's crazy knowledge of the game and accurate AK as well as Lag_Beast's insane AWPing in my team, but it takes time to build teamwork and learn your teammates playing styles, something which, if they want to place well they will need to get right in their first game.

5. xTc
Lineup: zer0ch4nce (c), s0nne , Gandalf, ReTcHeD, moonCow

Having thought long and hard, I decided to go with xTc over cP for the last place in my predictions. Having first hand knowledge of zer0ch4nce's calling, the team could get quite far depending on how well they execute their strats. One thing that does bother me is that Gandalf is in the lineup, again not to take any of his past achievements away from him, but he has been out of the loop for a couple of years and only just got back into the game recently. But to his credit he has racked up so many hours in the past few weeks that he has probably more game time than the playing time of some teams out there. Having spectated some of this teams online games, their main fragger, s0nne, will need to pull out all the stops tomorrow if the team wants to place on the podium.

Now there are two teams who I believe can make that list, but in order for them to place well they will need to do something very special both individually and as a team. cP, last years Do Gaming champions will have a tough time holding onto their crown this year after a brief period of inactivity and two new players, the team doesn't seem to be as strong as it was last year, but still has the potential to win the competition. Last but not least, PM. This is by far my most favourite team next to the Mint Gaming team (obviously). Being ex-1.6 pro's, the guys have had a tough transition to Source. To their credit they have been attending MPLD and playing almost every night (online) and I must say their skill level in CS:S has improved immensely. With players like JiN and StripfLow playing for them the team is bound to cause some upsets. I would really like to see this team carry on playing in 2011 and see what they would be able to accomplish then. [/toggle]

This is the first feature in a three part series, where Daniel 'merc' Balusik will delve into topics such as, up and coming MGO's, current MGO's and lastly how to run an MGO.
As most of you know there are currently four top MGO's in South Africa: Mint Gaming, Pantheon, Bravado and current new kids on the block Ventus eSports.

However is this all set to change in 2011? After following the South African scene quite closely for the past few weeks, it has become clear to me that there are quite a few 'MGOs' so to speak popping up all over the place. It has become the general trend, and also misconception that if you want to be recognized you need to either be in an MGO or form one. However this is not the case. There is so much more to running a top MGO then meets the eye, however that will be discussed in part 3/3 of this feature. [toggle=read more]

The first installment in this feature article is the 'up-and-coming' MGO's, and all the information you will need to be clued up about them. Just remember there have been many before them, so I wont be discussing any of the past, and failed organisations, and will only be focusing on the present. Without further adieu below are some of the most promising, 'up-and-coming' MGO's in the South African competitive community.

Paranormal Gaming

The management Paranormal Gaming is set to try their hand at making a competitive Multi Gaming Organisation. Some may remember that this is the same management that ran Killer Instinct. It seems they are back with almost the same Counter-Strike: Source lineup as before barring one or two changes, they will also be sporting a TeamFortress 2, Call of Duty 4, and in addition also be the first MGO in the country to have a Call of Duty: Black Ops team.

After chatting with the organisations owner, Silencer, it is clear that he feels strongly about moving towards the MGO scene once again. Further into the conversation he acknowledges where management went wrong in KI, and made it clear that Paranormal is here to stay. However only time will tell if the organisation can match that of the already established trio: Mint, Pantheon and Bravado.

The organisation does not yet have a website, or any sponsors but Silencer vowed that those will come in time once the organisation has established itself a bit better. This is surely an organisation to look out for in the future if management doesn't fold as it did last time.

Website: none
Steam: Paranormal Gaming SA
Do Gaming: pML
Current teams: Counter-Strike: Source, TeamFortress 2
Future teams: Call of Duty 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops
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XTC Gaming

The name itself has been on the South African scene for years now, 1999 to be exact. But it recently came under new management. Since the 'new' XTC's inception, the organisation managed to pick up Mint's former Counter-Strike: Source team, a competitive Quake Live team, and a fairly good but inexperienced Starcraft 2 team. None of XTC's management could be reached at the time of publishing, so I cannot give you exact details as to what the organisations plans are.

Having a rich history, the new XTC organisation will have a lot to live up to, especially the Counter-Strike: Source team, as the XTC team that was formed in 2001 participated at WCG: Korea, with names such as Deathsbane, Brute and Shape making up the bulk of the team. Recently the organisation has increasingly improved it's results, with their Starcraft 2 team doing most of the damage.

This is certainly an MGO to look out for in the future. With part of it's management having run a previous MGO, ZeroLimit, they seem to know what they are doing, it has already established it's own website as well as some strong teams that could only get stronger from here.

Website: link
Steam: none
Do Gaming: xTc
Current teams: Counter-Strike: Source, Starcraft 2, QuakeLive
Future teams: tba
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Clans-SA Gaming

Now some of you are wondering why they made the list, and to be honest even I am surprised, but there is something about this organisation which is different. What sets them apart from the rest is that it is built around an already running eSports 'brand', much like Team Thernaltake, Team Cooler Master (TCM) and so on. This organisation is an offshoot of South African eSports 'press' website Clans-SA. Although it's website doesn't really serve a significant purpose to the community, yet. The organisation has the capacity to be long lasting purely because it has backing, something which few new MGO's posses.

Having spoken with the news website (clans-sa.co.za) owner, his vision of the gaming team is unique but it will have it's positives should it work out. The organisations owner DaRkNeSs, has put the fate of the organisation in the hands of 14 year old Call of Duty player, plaZma. A ballsy move, considering his age, and that he has no past experience in managing players, teams, sponsors or a website. However, this might just be the kick start young gamers in South Africa need, to want to do better, achieve more and become more competitive, ultimately creating a more professional community. On the other hand he might just 'get over it' and well, thats the end of Clans-SA Gaming.

All in all, this could go either way, personally I'm all for it as I too began starting my own teams at around that age, bringing in teams who played different genres. That is what helped me and the other owners of Mint Gaming build the organisation into what it is today.

Website: Clan, News
Steam: none
Do Gaming: cSAG
Current teams: Call of Duty 4, DotA
Future teams: tba
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Mixed Chicks

Mint Gaming has conducted various interviews with Mixed Chicks before which can be read here and here. This is the self proclaimed "all girls gaming clan". Which is open to all female gamers, giving them a home, much like UbS, except this is exclusively for women only, and besides which self respecting guy wants to be in a team called 'Mixed Chicks' (hehe).

The organisation hasn't really made in impact on the competitive scene yet, but they do host a very promising girls Counter-Strike: Source team, which I have had the pleasure of subbing for, and an experienced Call of Duty 4 team. They also have other divisions, but not as established as these two teams. What really impressed me is that both the Call of Duty 4 and Counter-Strike teams are making an effort to play in the Telkom Do Gaming League Championships, which will be held in December.

The management side of things is header up by Lolita and Bubbles, two very capable young women, who have done a lot for the South African gaming community. But like Mixed Chicks, we have seen many all female teams come and go, hopefully they become the exception to the rule, as they have gathered such great momentum, it would be a pity to see them fall short of something great.

Website: link
Steam: link
Do Gaming: mC
Current teams: Call of Duty 4, DotA, Counter-Strike: Source, Warcraft 3
Future teams: TeamFortress 2, Guitar Hero, BattleField: Bad Company 2, Heroes of Newerth, QuakeLive
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First Squad

This is a Call of Duty 4 team that has been around for ages, they went through a stage where they were highly competitive, but seemingly dropped off the radar in recent times. But, after talking with owner, paNic, he is adamant that the team will make it to premier league next year. Although the team isn't an organisation as of yet, they have plans in place for expanding to something much bigger and much better.

They have already aquired a small sponsorship from Afrihost, which they are hoping to try grow as they get larger. First has plans to expand into Starcraft II and Counter-Strike: Source, and depending on how competitive it is, a Call of Duty: Black Ops team as well.

The team is also run by a young man, and after chatting with him, he seems very dedicated and committed to growing First Squad into something greater. This just proves that the younger gamers in our community want to strive towards a more professional community, and that it's not all fun and games. The team managed to place first, in the second division which is a great achievement for such a young team.

Website: none
Steam: none
Do Gaming: 1st
Current teams: Call of Duty 4
Future teams: Counter-Strike: Source, Starcraft 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops
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