Hildreth — It’s hard to say that I’ve ever really looked forward to a season of Highlander as much as I have this season, not just because for the first time ever I am participating in it (with a real team, not a bunch of noob Americans, can’t even with LANs) but more so because the whole shape of the Highlander scene in Europe has been thrown into an abyss of the unknown, I try to see the future but I can’t.
This is helped by a combination of factors, the biggest being obviously the end of SNSD’s winning streak at the hands of DAROUTOUTOU in last season’s grand final, although DA! outplayed SNSD in that match, the nature of the way it was played (1 round of Payload) left it as less of a spectacle for us to look back on and admire, it almost felt like it could just be a one off, with only 2 rounds of Payload played to decide a championship, was it worth remembering?
So that brings me to the changes in the season, the big one being the 8 team divisions, which in turn does bring a more mixed skill set to Divisions 1, 2 and so forth but in the Premiership I am proud to say every team in there looks equally dangerous in merit, making the fight over the new 4 team Premiership playoff spots even more intense, designed to mirror the 6v6 concept.
The 7 week season will see a great matchup of competition emerging building up to these matches, where it has been confirmed that we’ll have proper length rounds and matches to decide who will progress and take home the cash money prizes on offer from BlackOut Gaming once again, a grand total of 1000 Euros will be split amongst the top 3 sides. All I can say is the admins have made a series of great improvements regarding map choices, unlocks, league setup and rules that will hopefully make this the best Highlander season ever. Now onto the preview!
As reigning champions they get the unique opportunity to head my preview article – DA!’s title win was a culmination of many seasons of hard work, getting promoted to the Premiership and surprising many by taking first place. Since then, the majority of their team buoyed themselves as Team France, outplaying the other national Highlander sides but getting severely outclassed by the Americans as they exposed the obvious weaknesses in their play with 100 more ping. This is of course the almost kind of “roaming” demoman of Exon, staying far away from the combo and leaving most the heals on Tek. A style of play that was ripped apart combo v combo vs USA, but ultimately throughout the few months had been part of their winning formula in Europe. For what they lack in damage output from their Demoman, the French do make it up with the skill of their other classes, Tek + k3′s combination was for the most part the most solid in Europe, T-Mac and Plapla are deadly on the flank, those two along with Flippy on sniper were one of the few reasons France could mount a fight on Lakeside vs USA, their skill alone will put many teams against the ropes. One big player I want to talk about who was my Man of the Match vs SNSD in last season’s final is Daff, whether or not he will return remains to be seen but the guy has been tipped as one of the most solid spies in Europe, gaining a lot of admirers from overseas and in a continent where Spy prowess is incomparable to North America, he could be a big difference maker for the French side. Ultimately though I feel that unless DA! Significantly change their combo style and adjust their tactical approaches to particular maps, they will see themselves failing to live up to last season’s heights.
We’re treading new ground now as the Korean pop-stars experience their first season of not being reigning champions and pre-season practise clan wars have been shaky for them. The reason why this is the case is hard to put your finger on, on the one hand their line-up as changed slightly but the only players going inactive are TheSucker, Cube and ALX. Now with Hat of Badwater-roof-airblasting under the soft chords of my serenading casting voice fame returning on Medic and capable replacement Engineer Fenrir, it is hard to say they have really downgraded their roster (perhaps Hat on Medic is an upgrade?) but the lack of ALX may be damaging, the original heavy has been replaced by Zebbosai, the former Broder pocket and current Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory scout (awful name). Zebbo hasn’t really quite adjusted to life as the fat man thus far, but with boots as big as ALX’s to fill, he’d have to put in some rousing performances for SNSD. Other than that, the same big players are there for the side, Linus the captain keeping them organised and practising hard, along with Kaidus + Tviq who are the real talisman(s) of this side and Droso who makes up in DM skills for what he lacks in his ability to capture points. I would say this SNSD roster is almost as solid as ever, in fact I’d put down the reason for some of their pre-season practises not being as good because the European HL team has caught up a lot more with them, they’re no longer invincible and the fact they can be beaten will boost everyone when they face them. But to rule out SNSD as title contenders is like ruling out Muhammed Ali, or Manchester United or Phil Taylor or any other dominating sports analogy I can come up with.
“Gaper’s gonna gape” – the scariest rally cry in all of TF2 without a doubt. A team that has never finished below 3rd in the table as they won the bronze prize last season, losing a close playoff game to DA, Parrot Gapers have never failed to gape there way into the playoffs. It also seems like Haunter has taken over the leadership role, the former Comunidade Portuguesa TF2 and May Contain Nuts Heavy has changed around a few players in a roster that doesn’t really practise. From the death of Kritzkast Distinguished Ducks they have picked up S1nerdrion and Bubblebobbler, though it may be more likely Trinita who starred for Portugal Highlander this summer may start as Spy – a huge upgrade from Evokje aka ‘The Spy who activates his Dead Ringer by fall damage’. But The_Bobbler is a key pickup on Engineer, not only does he know all the spots to build, but his knowledge and experience will help keep that team together, considering they tend to have more of an attitude to deathmatch rather than position themselves accordingly. The other notable thing is the amount of inactive players removed from the team, no fewer than 9 I counted as current gamers are transitioned into the roster. So long as the Gapers get their high level Dming talent in the right positions, they will forever remain a threat but whether or not they go all the way and challenge for the title depends on if they actually practise, I can’t really see it myself but they could potentially be in the playoffs.
The last of the four remaining teams from Season 4, Legolas have braved the torrents of a disappointing season last term along with Legolas stealing their points to return. Unlike Parrot Gapers, SNSD and DA, Legolas have been the least successful at converting high death matching talents into successful results, however they have always managed to maintain their Premiership spot gaining results against the lower half of Prem. Just like Parrot Gapers, they’re not expected to practise very much, if at all so it is likely their team will remain uncoordinated and lacking teamwork plus knowledge of certain maps and holds, although my eye does spot a few well known Highlander names such as Zyzo (most likely to Engineer) and Admin god Ashkan possibly returning to Spy, but he has competition from the likes of Big Homer who has been touted by their American counterparts as “the best Spy in Europe” from his performances for Team Germany this summer. A good Spy and Engineer can help a team but it won’t win you games, so it remains to be seen who will fill what position on Skeej’s band of Elven warriors, even though there are some strong deathmatchers on this side with the likes of MightyMe, Smzii, gf_18, Abra…etc, other teams boast equally as impressive players with the tactical knowledge of the format to boast, so unless Legolas can step up their practise schedule, I can’t see them doing particularly well – But you should never rule out a team that relies on their DM, if they get momentum they will use it and they won’t show anyone respect and that can catch teams out.
This SDW side are one of 4 Prem debutants this season but the only one to earn their place via promotion as champions of Division 1. Promotion last season added to cap off a great season for the team after winning the UGC Platinum playoffs from Season 9. Having been quiet this summer they did perform better than the Team France squad in a showmatch vs a weakened Ginyu Force side but their UGC form has been hit with a snag lately, losing matches to Division 1 side Stacked and Spirits in a Shell. This form may be explained by a lot of shuffling in their roster, the victorious team of last season has been changed up, with star sniper Mr Rev being replaced by Jude who has not done nearly as much damage as the Latvian head-clicker. Furthermore it appears resident “nice guy who doesn’t have tourettes” Demsii has stepped down to a more backup role from Demoman and his replacement has been shuffled between Atomic, Irfx and Piddox who also like to share Heavy responsibilities. This sort of inconsistency with players can make it difficult for teams to co-ordinate within the combo so likely explains some of their less impressive performances. They do still maintain a lot of their talented players though with their proclaimed do-er of work Sookie still backstabbing like Nick Clegg, flame-bringer Quell dishing impressive damage out on a class where the average pyro does 100 per minute and Muffinz on Medic coming off a decent summer in the Nations Cup for Finland. I can see SDW enjoying some success this season but their spotty form and a lack of consistent combo classes will no doubt harm them in the long run, but if they sort that out, who knows what they can do?
Yeah this paragraph is dedicated to all the players who told me I’d never amount to nuttin’, itsallgood baby baby – My favourite team, they’ve come a long way since the days I casted them in a Reddit competition, now they’re with the big boys and competing well, for my money they could be the surprise new team in the league. Having controversially gained a Premiership spot above Spirits in a Shell. IAG will give us a few new names to pay attention to, with Lazybear on Scout being compared to the likes of Furbo, if Highlander did an upcoming player of the season, he’d win it by a mile. The rest of this team has solid players all around, Niak, Rudi, Lenny, Fanny, Schmuse, Pinky – I’d say they’re all solid players, just like Solid but no-one particularly special with the exception of Lazybear. Their UGC form being 4-3, losing to not only SDW in a tight 5-4 but also Division 1 sides Stacked and Chessclub Techniques, so there records in matches has not been as strong as late, on this evidence you think they may struggle a little bit, but with rumours that they and SDW don’t take UGC as seriously…have we seen their full potential yet? I don’t think so – Their Daddy Bulow needs to really get his kids into shape and stop them from arguing with eachother and focusing more on actually playing the fucking game when shit goes bad, then I think they can raise some eyebrows.
Having narrowly missed out on promotion last season,Kill Switch, just like IAG have benefited from the new 8 team Division switch to secure their place as a Premiership side. Another solid side playing in UGC and Wireplay, they are currently 5-2 in UGC and 2nd place in Wireplay having lost games to SDW and IAG but been consistent enough to beat “lower” teams than themselves, unlike SDW and IAG, though they did drop a round of Badwater in Wireplay to STHNC (a team made for the league). KS contain some ‘interesting’ players, from India they have the 200 ping Vishnu-level Sniper, Kcot shooting you through walls alongside their leader Pancake who normally frequents the Engineer but his activity remains to be seen, though he manages his roster especially well. Charlie Sheen’s cousin, Emilio Estevez (wouldn’t it be ironic if he played for The Breakfast Club?) does the in-game calling on Demoman and has been one of the best rated outside of ETF2L in the 9v9 format, joining him in the combo is Hegee, a solid Medic from Finland and Sad Panda, the Team England heavy weapons guy who can be devastating if he stays off the booze and doesn’t delete all of his steam friends. In addition to this solid combo who have worked together for a long time, you have new additions like It’s Mint (more than likely to fill the Engineer spot), Candle on Pyro plus Div 1 6v6 scout, Dennia from Saints coming into the side. I would say Pancake has been gradually improving his side every season and out of all the newly moved up sides, KS will do the best, possibly challenging for the playoffs but they need to beat their curse of losing to SDW and IAG.
As this is my own team, I elected to get a neutral perspective from the only man in European Highlander more knowledgable than me about everything 9v9 related – The_Bobbler: (apologies for the different text, who can be bothered to format anyway?)
BubbleBobbler – Among the 3 Prem debutants who did sneak into Prem due to the division size increase are these guys. Although they will be the newest team playing at the highest level at only 3 months old, teamleader/demoman/article writer extraordinaire Hildreth was able to pick up 2 of his Decerto teammates furbo and zoob from the ashes of oldboys Colony, along with former Decerto/ Unbelievably Brave Sweethearts teammate Ritalin. Hopefully for them, this year of experience playing with eachother outside of highlander will mean the synergy new teams often lack will be there. This team isn’t lacking in individual experience at a high level either, with 5 of their starting 9 having played in Prem before and Hildreth opting to stay up until 3AM every night to play at the highest level of North American highlander instead. Why? Nobody knows. Along with the ex-colony flank, potentially one of the strongest flanks in Prem, the team has picked up ex Max-Play Highlander Team members Phroblem and Steve who, despite maxplay’s results, have both proven themselves to be very capable
The team has shown a promising start with being undefeated in the ongoing season of wireplay and good scrim results against other top teams – however, they haven’t played any of the other 3 Prem teams in their division of Wireplay yet, so are yet to prove themselves against teams of this level in an environment where the results actually matter. As a result, their success this season is likely to hinge on whether they keep their cool under pressure. Will they be able to cope, or will they find themselves going off the deep end?
Now the little previews are done it’s time to get down to the business, we have the most open season ever with the potential for so many good games. SNSD no longer dominating, 4 new teams with the potential to upset and maybe go all the way, the unpredictable nature of those sides who don’t often practise that could trounce you one day and play poorly the next, it’s damn well going to be interesting to watch, that’s for sure. Watch out for Highlander coverage from BlackOut Gaming as well as TeamFortress.tv and VanillaTV in the coming season plus potentially a new video/podcast series focusing on Highlander coverage. It’s all on the horizon!
Originally published on VanillaTV (vanillatf2.org) on 2013-10-31 by Hildreth.
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.