Fog — With less than a day before the start of the ESEA S11 season, here is a preview of the teams and their rosters
Seeing has some of the rosters have yet to be set in stone, and not a single official match has been played with any of these teams, I will only focus on the teams, their off-season changes, and their potential ranking. I will not bother with making predictions and actual power rankings until the second week of the season. With that being said, enjoy the ESEA S11 Invite Preview article!
There have been a lot of notable changes from the end of last season to this season, with notable players such as TLR, Mackey, CB, and TechDude no longer actively playing in competitive TF2 due to personal reasons or otherwise. Along with that, Area 51 Gaming TF2, The Experiment, The Spacewhales, and Blight TF2 have dropped off as team for this season. Replacing those four teams, we have the seemingly super-team that is Mihaly’s Flow, the return of Yz50 with Srsly Br0, Season 11 ESEA-IM 1st place winners Pinball Wizards, and ESEA-IM S11 4th place team and voted in by the community Leviathan Gaming. Of the teams that have stuck around, all of the rosters have some new faces, mainly from the remnants of the defunct teams. With the short amount of time between seasons and the new rosters not being fully in sync, expect there to be a lot of surprises in the first few weeks of the season.
Read on for the full lowdown!
Pre-Season Power Rankings:
1) Mihaly’s Flow
Medic: Pure, Roamer: Wonderwall, Pocket: Harbleu, Scouts: Shrugger, Ruwin, Demo: Soup
Mihaly’s Flow (Pronounced MEE-hy’s Flow) is looking to be the Invite Super Team for this season, similar to Classic Mixup from Season 10 (and we all know how they did last season). This team has the appeal of big name players in Pure, Harbleu, and Wonderwall, along with the experience and knowledge of TF2 that’s needed to be successful in Invite. Pure, having played a season in ESEA-IM last season, comes back as Medic for Flow and will be cooking up new recipes ideas and strategies to lead this team to LAN. After saying in Season 10 that he was done playing as a Medic after that season, Harbleu has kept his word (for now) and has returned to natural position as Soldier, which will suit his aggressiveness very well. With newcomer to Invite Shrugger, expect some surprises from him even though he’s only been playing for two seasons. Wonderwall, playing his natural Roamer position is always dangerous and will provide a lot of DM (and maybe some frag video material). Ruwin has made a bit of a negative name for himself after dodging LAN a few seasons ago, but is underestimated in his skills and abilities and will be a great companion to Shrugger. Soup had a bit of a lackluster season with Area 51, but be prepared for him to shine this season with the support of the rest of Flow. This team is the team to watch for, and will most likely be in 1st seed come LAN.
2) Quantic Legacy
Medic: Bloodsire, Roamer: Dave__AC, Pocket: Tyrone, Scouts: Clockwork, Cyzer, Demo: B4nny
Coming off their second place finish in S10, Quantic have kept the majority of their roster intact, but have lost the always entertaining to watch Mackey and their Medic CB. Coming in to replace them, we have Dave__AC, Check-Six’s roamer in Season 8, and Bloodsire, one of the most knowledgeable players in TF2. Dave will have to try to fill the void that Mackey left behind with his off-classes, but should still be a force to be reckoned with. The medic situation with Quantic gets a bit more confusing, with Oov (Also from Check-Six in Season 8) was slated to be their Medic, before he was replaced by Bloodsire for unknown reasons. However, Bloodsire will not be the only medic on Quantic, with Reptile being slated to play Medic for Quantic at LAN (if they make it). It’s not clear at this point if Reptile and Bloodsire will switch off games during the season, but I believe that all of this Medic switching before, during, and at LAN will take it’s toll on the team’s chemistry. The scout duo in Clockwork and Cyzer are looking to be the most dominant scout duo of any team this season, and compliment each other perfectly. B4nny, being the demo-god that he is, will be looking to have another amazing season, and will be the main factor in Quantic doing well this season. Tyrone will return as team leader and Pocket, and will provide some much needed leadership and knowledge to guide this team to their 5th straight LAN appearance.
3) Classic Mixup
Medic: Shrew, Roamer: Relic, Pocket: Platinum, Scouts: Moose, Enigma, Demo: Smaka
Classic Mixup has been dealing with a similar situation from last season to this season to Quantic Legacy’s, with Pocket TLR nowhere to be seen, and Medic Harbleu moving to Mihaly’s Flow to play Soldier. Mixup has also had a bit of an interesting situation in terms of who would be playing Medic. With Harbleu now gone, they were scrambling to find a Medic of similar calibre to replace him. They originally had weeble converting from Scout to Medic to fill the void, but that didn’t last long. Eventually they picked up Shrew, former Avoided medic from Season 9 ESEA-IM, to play Medic for Mixup. Shrew should be a nice fit for the transitioning Mixup, and I expect him to hold his own as another new Invite player. The Pocket situation for Mixup was much more simple to solve, having Platinum switching back from Demo to Pocket, and picking up Smaka to play Demo. Smaka should be a great fit for the team, and will be near the top in the list of best demoman’s in Season 11. With the rest of the team staying intact from last season, expect them to compete for the top two seeds.
4) Pinball Wizards
Medic: Kbk, Roamer: Basik, Pocket: Lansky, Scouts: Squid, Tang, Demo: Sweater
ESEA-IM Season 10 winners Pinball Wizards are going to be in it to prove that they deserve to be Invite this season. The roster from last season to this season is mostly the same, with the exception of Basik, Medic for The Experiment in S10, taking over Roamer position from Vhalin. Kbk, their medic, is not one to be underestimated. He was far and away the best medic of the ESEA-IM S10 season, with his amazing uber management and his knowledge of the game. Sweater is making his return to Invite after a season of playing in IM, and will be holding his own against the rest of the demos in Invite. Lansky is a Pocket that has a lot of potential in Invite, and I expect him to have a breakout season in Invite. The scout duo in Squid and Tang will have to rely on their DM to get them through the season, but they are not to be underestimated. There are a lot of expectations to be had for this team, considering their performance in the IM playoffs in Season 10, and I expect that will work their hardest to show that they can compete in Invite.
5) Srsly Br0
Medic: Snoopy, Roamer: Blaze, Pocket: Boomer, Scouts: Yz50, Oplaid, Demo: Dummy
Srsly Br0 marks the return of Yz50 in Invite after being out of the game since Season 8. with Yz50 being the big draw of the team, many people don’t really talk about the rest of the team. However, with names like Dummy and Oplaid, they are definitely not to be taken lightly. Blaze is back in Invite after taking a season in IM to find himself as a Roamer, and it seems to have worked for him thus far. Boomer takes charge of the Pocket position, protecting their medic Snoopy (both of them being on Blight TF2 roster last season at). Oplaid and Dummy, coming from The Experiment in Season 10, are both proven Invite veterans who should be able to bring their experience to improve the team’s chances of taking a LAN spot. If Srsly Br0 are taking this season seriously (why wouldn’t they, their name is completely srs, br0), They should be able to make it to LAN without a problem.
6) Mighty Ducks
Medic: Thrill, Roamer: Ghos7ayama, Pocket: Lange, Scouts: Seanbud, Decimate, Demo: PUFF
The Ducks are back in it again, after barely missing the final LAN spot by a single game. With the departure of Doggles and Ukm into ESEA-Open, The Ducks have picked up some solid Invite names in Lange and Seanbud from LASER BEAMS in Season 10. Both players have previous experience in Invite, and appear to fit right in with the rest of the team. The Ducks have some solid DM with their fragging classes, however, with the teams being as strong as they are, it’ll be tough for the Ducks to grab some footing early on in the season. The core team of Thrill, Ghos7ayama, Decimate, and PUFF all did a great job last season, and I expect them to improve upon it, even if the record doesn’t show for it at first.
7) High Rollers Gaming TF2
Medic: Sash, Roamer: Tri, Pocket: Dante, Scouts: Omar, Anonemouse, Demo: Rick
Although HRG was the community favourite for LAN, HRG have gone through some of their own growing pains from their LAN appearance last season. With TechDude leaving the game to focus on his personal matters and Trekkie getting cut and moving down to IM this season. To remedy the situation, they have picked up Snooplicity/Blight TF2 medic Sash to replace Trekkie. Their Roamer situation is a bit … weirder, with Dante coming in from The Experiment to play the role. Originally, Dante was supposed to play Scout and Omar was to play roamer, but it seems like they have switched roles for the time being. There are already rumours going around that Dante is bored of playing Roamer, so it doesn’t seem like a match made in heaven for Dante. Omar and Anonemouse, coming straight from their breakout LAN performances, will be looking to keep the pace up this season and showing that last season was no fluke. Rick is back on the Demoman role, and will be looking to improve from his last season numbers. With all of this uncertainty, it’s hard to place HRG higher up on the rankings with the competition being as tough as it is.
8) Leviathan Gaming
Medic: Grillz, Roamer: Tagg, Pocket: REP, Scouts: Zclispe, Chompa, Demo: 38special
Finally, we have newcomers to Invite Leviathan Gaming. There isn’t really much that I know about this team, with the exception of 38special from Blight TF2 last season. With being barely voted into Invite against Xensity and Spacewhales-revival/Pug team Curb Stomp, Leviathan will have a lot cut out for them in this season, with the competition being as tough as it is.
With all of the competition in Invite being so strong, this is looking to be the best season of Invite yet, and can not wait to watch the first matches of the season. Until next time, I’ll see you guys later.
Originally published on VanillaTV (vanillatf2.org) on 2012-04-09 by Fog.
Recovered from the Internet Archive (archived copy) as part of tf2esports.com's preservation of VanillaTV's TF2 coverage. The original site is no longer online. All rights remain with the original author; reposted for historical reference.