CATEGORY: TF2

Fortressmen of the Month #3 brings together two competitive veterans who were rivals across two different Team Fortress games, yet companions at the same international LANs, 15 years after standing at the top of the European scene. Coinz competed for ECA in Enemy Territory Fortress and later for YoYoTech/TCM Gaming in Team Fortress 2, while Moose played for Clan United (ETF, TF2) and then for Crack Clan/Power Gaming (TF2). Both came to TF2 from the short-lived but competitive tournament scene of the still-young ETF, joining a wider migration that saw entire clans from games such as Team Fortress Classic make the same transition.

For Coinz and Moose, however, the move was far more than a passing fad. They remained at the forefront of TF2 as the game’s competitive domain evolved from humble beginnings into a major scene with multiple leagues featuring several hundred teams each season.

In this interview, they look back at the online ETF competitions, discuss TF2’s unique gameplay and their adaptation to it, revisit the major European TF2 LAN tournaments where their paths crossed, and recall TF2’s early prospects as a major esport—including the first attempts to engage Valve on the game’s competitive future.

TloFly from European TFC community and pick-up game (PuG) server compiled twenty minutes of Team Fortress Classic action from numerous top players, and named it The Wizards of TFC. It is a free masterclass in conc-jumping and flag running, topped off with an elite frag show. European players from ETFC PuGs make up the majority of the footage, with North and South American and Australian players featured as well. Last year, Manu’s Joga Bonito and rk’s 22^nd in the editless montage series, summer air, made their impact. This year, TloFly’s The Wizards is arguably the best release so far.

Another great movie of the year has come out of Team Fortress 2. deli’s montage showcases frags performed at poLANd.tf 2026, a top-level invite LAN in Łódź, Poland, organized annually since 2018. Just as Fireside Denver 2025 in Colorado hosted the best teams from Europe and Australia, and brought the three-continental LAN competition back to TF2 after eight years, poLANd 2026 brought an intercontinental competition back to Europe after four years, with an American mix team flying overseas to challenge the winners of Denver. The frags, as well as deli’s editing, match the quality of the competition.

Although they are not stacked montages, Enemy Territory Fortress recently produced some valuable media as well: recordings from the EU vs. US matches held on 27 July and 5 August. Thanks to the initiative of the European players who still queue up for the pick-up games every day on the Discord server, ETF is played again after several months. grome has recorded his POV from etf_schtop and etf_japanc maps played on 27 July, while Tulkas has full stream replays from both 27 July and 5 August. If you missed some ETF action, have fun watching them.

The last weekend of spring 2026 is bringing Team Fortress 2 fans top-tier live action for the game mode and time zone of their choice.

The first one is the ETF2L Highlander (9v9) Season 35 (Spring 2026) Grand Final between 3AM and GANJA. The backbone of 3AM is the 16 times ETF2L highlander champions SDCK, who had broken up in the near past. There was not enough written coverage on the topic at the time, and it’s never too late to learn more about it.

We broke up in 2024, but not because we wanted to, but because we felt there was no other choice – several members of our squad refused to continue participating in ETF2L for as long as people we strongly believed were cheating were allowed to continue playing in the league with us. I took up an offer to offclass for a div1 team the following season, and the season after 3AM was created by former SDCK members laiky and mezzo and they asked me to play engie for that team with the single goal of trying to beat the team that had a cheater on it, the goal we managed to achieve in our first season together. – Clark

If ETF2L Highlander AFA (All F*ckingFun Autumn) 2025 is counted, which also had solid competition, 3AM is going for its third consecutive championship. GANJA, on the other hand, is no easy bite either. After being formed three years ago and winning the league over SDCK in their first season, GANJA was disbanded after playing a second one, for reasons similar to those of SDCK. They are back this season, after almost two years of not touching the game at all. Now let’s hear the final thoughts from the members of each team.

Recently we all hopped back in for “one game” and somehow it felt like old times again. Same trash talk, same chaos, same late night sessions. We realized we never really quit because we hated the game — we quit because the game stopped being fun for a while. Now we’re back to remind people why ganja was feared in the first place.

Only difference now is there’s a new mountain to climb. Everyone keeps talking about Clark and his squad 3AM like they run the scene. They’ve been farming wins while we were gone, and apparently nobody’s been able to shut them down. So now the comeback story ain’t just about returning — it’s about proving the old kings still got it. If we want the crown back, we gotta go through Clark and 3AM first. – blank

We are looking forward to tomorrow’s match. Ganja is a good team and SDCK actually lost a final against them back in 2023, but we are as prepared as we can be and having beaten them already in the upper bracket final, we are confident we can do it again. SDCK players like myself, laiky and mezzo have a 100% winrate on Upward, a record that’s been held by SDCK for over 10 years now and we fully intend to keep that record going for longer, and Upward will be the 1st map we play tomorrow. – Clark

This great grand final will be streamed, and commentated on, live by Fireside Casts at 21:15 CET (19:15 UTC) on Saturday. 🔴

The action to be watched a few hours before that is of the main competitive game mode of TF2, 6v6, and from AsiaFortress’ Grand Final of Spring 2026 season.