This article is an editorial and is solely the opinion of its author.

I must admit, there was a fear somewhere in my subconscious that upon my return to civilization, I would find competitive TF2 deader than my great Uncle Horace. Yet, somehow, despite a crumbling CAL, a CEVO league that took forever to just host another tourney, and a nonexistent LAN scene, there is still a definite pulse beating away in the heart of this little gaming community. It's undergone the some changes to be sure, and it certainly hasn't had that rapid-fire growth that some of us continue to hope for, but fears of a dead game seem to be behind us now as the community finds itself with a solid base of leagues, players, and teams ready to compete for whatever they can.


It turns out I wasn't completely cut off from society during my treeplanting escapade, and would occasionally find myself browsing the forums here at GotFrag from a dirty, dingy Public Library out in the wilds of Northern Manitoba. It was from there that I followed (or tried to, at least) the evolution of Pandemic into the New York Yankees of TF2, first aquiring devastation-mainstay Ryan "syckness" Mitchell and 20ID demoman extraordinaire Alex "alex" Anthone, then going on to overhaul the entire roster so that only oPlaid, newby & Reptile remain from the original lineup. Despite all the changes, Pandemic is still the #1 team on the continent, yet much like their pro-baseball counterparts, they are developing the "big, bad guy" image of an organization that will steal all your best players and leave your team in ruins (see massive flame war from a few months ago). Yet, by the same token, the organization is simply putting together the best team possible in an effort to win.. if they happen to elevate themselves to untouchable status so that every event they participate in becomes just a foregone conclusion, is that their fault?

Personally, I don't particularly have a problem with the guys over at Pandemic, nor do I find much merit in criticizing them or their philosophy. Yes, they have some of the best players right now, and have won just about everything they've competed in, but I much prefer there being a clearly definable #1 for another team to gun for, rather than a plethora of teams who all have a shot (see the current state of the NHL). And let’s not forget, they did lose a couple times in the ESL.. granted, they played with high pings, but hey, a loss is a loss :)


Devastation seemed to survive losing (arguably their best player), picking up pokey early on in the summer from the deceased-Delectable Meats, but there's no doubt that dev lost a step with the breakup of punisher & syckness. Meanwhile, the disintegration of the old Eximius Gaming was quickly followed by the pickup of the old Frag Dominant squad, with a few other randoms thrown in for good measure. A collection of old-Exi, old-20id, and old-Pandemic who still wanted to play took it upon themselves to reform the Experiment, though after a somewhat, err, peculiar end to the CEVO Sennheiser Open (see how I handled that? not a single cheap shot at CEVO), combined with their names missing in the CEVO-A Teamlist, I can't help but wonder how long they'll be around. There are also some new names making some noise (ferveNt, Sway, #cri.) along with some old faithful still trucking along (Xensity, Sorry Ass Clan), but sadly all of this is really secondary until someone dethrones Pandemic.


The big names across the pond still seem to be on top of things, with 4Kings, Fracture, Excello and ^wotr^ all gearing up for ETF2L Season 3 along with ESL's Major Series Season 3, scheduled to being its qualification process in September. Europe still sports a much larger field of competitive teams, with 170 already signed up for ETF2L S3 - over 3 times as many currently listed in CEVO-A (and that list includes the Pro teams). The popularity of the game has certainly remained strong in Europe, and the competition is a little more balanced with those 3-4 teams mentioned in the mix whenever they compete. The long reign of 4K^ may finally be coming to an end, in lieu of their early exit in the ETF2L 3rd Cup, but I have to question how serious teams were taking this event since some big names, Fracture among them, didn't even bother to participate.


Finally, the host site for the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) is holding a number of side tournaments to go along with the main event, including TF2. Since this is the first real TF2 LAN I've ever come across, please excuse my excessiveness in capital letters and pretty blue colours in the following statement:

GO PLAY IN THIS TOURNEY!!

Registration is open, so get off your butts, start sucking your sponsors you-know-what, and get out to San Jose for some good ol' fashioned LANNING! Make this a tournament worth hosting! Heck, just go down there so Pandemic doesn't have a total cake-walk!