Commemoration of the Early TF2 Era: EU 2007-11 w/ Byte interview

2010 Breakthrough

The year of 2010 started with Assembly Winter 2010 LAN which had an abundance of talent, and extended Dignitas’ streak of winning everything available since last year, online and LAN alike. Insomnia39 in the first weekend of April shared the same result, both in terms of talent and its winner. Therefore, it was definitely a change, if not an overturn when last season’s 7^th-placed Epsilon (idk?) won ETF2L Season 7 in April 2010, and became the 3^rd team ever to have the honor.

On the verge of the summer, many players missing for holidays, a full season was too much to commit for the community, but a possible wait until autumn was too long as well. Hence ETF2L AFS (All F*cking Summer) Season 2010 was played between June and August, and made TCM Gaming taste the title this time.

August 2010 would see both of the major EU LANs, Assembly Summer 2010 and Insomnia40, making Dignitas and TCM travel to Helsinki and to Newbury within three weeks of time. During the former, the “host” Power Gaming put an end to Dignitas’ LAN streak. i40, on the other hand, would not only crown Dignitas again, but also would be witnessed by one of the closest grand finals of all times against Epsilon.

i40 also showcased a very important figure for the next decade of TF2: kaidus. kaidus’ Div2 team eMpathy finished the tournament 4^th, leaving FakkelBrigade behind. With the words of his team mate, he destroyed them, so they rostered him. kaidus’ ETF2L top division (now labeled “Premier” for the first time) debut would be with FakkelBrigade in Season 8.

ETF2L Season 8 was played from October until the January of the next year. Epsilon then won their second title in a row*. mvp’s Button Bashers (Blight), which had previously finished their top division debut in Season 7 at 6^th finished S8 as the runner-up, in front of Dignitas and Power Gaming.

While that was happening, during autumn 2010 the powers-that-be gave birth to something much bigger than a single 6v6 season: a whole new major competitive game mode.

Highlander was known to the newcomer as a game mode not too different than Wireplay’s 7v7, in terms of weight and popularity. It was supposed to be less hardcore and more experimental, it was an intriguing idea, but it was difficult to come across. At the time there was very little chance to have ever witnessed it. ETF2L had organized two consecutive Highlander Cups so far, one at the end of 2008 and one in the beginning of 2009. Therefore it was truly a breakthrough when ETF2L announced their Highlander Community Challenge, supported by Valve itself, which was not only the first ever large-scale Highlander tournament, but also the biggest TF2 tournament ever. Eight-hundred teams competed, with almost half of them being from North America. The community, including top 6v6 players, showed great interest. High 6v6 players were not allowed to play power classes, however one could see Shintaz from Epsilon, for example, exterminating a whole team with the shotgun playing on Engineer.

The Community Challenge would end after three months into 2011, however, highlander was not slowing down. Following the challenge up, North America’s Community Fortress (CommFT) organized another highlander tournament. A major one, with an NA branch as well as an EU one. In summer 2011, during the EU finals, ETF2L Community Challenge champion SNSD won again in a grand final against Angry German Kids, which consisted of and was formed by many Button Bashers players. This was the final statement that sealed the deal for the whole world: Highlander was its own thing, and high 6v6 players would not be the de facto winners of this. Not as long as they were facing against a willing, hard working team that was aiming for the top.

Therefore, the mode quickly brought out its own stars, own meta, and a legacy that is still expanding. In the first three years of the game there had been 6v6 players showing * what off-classes are capable of. But the question of the best players of each of these five classes (in a game with nine classes) could not be answered definitively and with solid proof. Highlander provided the professional grounds for such an assessment, and gave these classes the repute they long deserved.

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