(ESEAnews) - The triumphant return of the ESEAnews TF2 Invite Writing Committee (of one) is happy to bring you the most hyped of hyped articles, the most hotly anticipated posting, the most... err... previewing preview of an Invite Preview, all for the low low fee of generously donated page views and maybe even a comment or two in the comments section (WHICH, AGAIN, YOU DON'T NEED PREMIUM TO DO POST IN).
The Committee was holding off posting this preview in advance of the schedule, but with the delay in the League Schedule's release, we thought it prudent to go ahead and offer up a truncated version of the Season 8 Preview, and save the nitty-gritty "who's got a tough schedule" stuff for the preseason Power Rankings.
And so, with that out of the way, let us journey together into the centre of... umm... Previewland, where the mystical wizard rk reveals his inner thoughts on those deemed "Invite worthy"!
...wow, I have got to work on my intros.
NOTE: These are in no particular order, the pre-season Power Rankings will be out tomorrow.
ESEA-INVITE SEASON 8 PREVIEW
THE ESTABLISHED POWERS
EMAZING GAMING TF2
Dante "shade" E
Jung Hoon "Yz50" Ock
Branden "Ggglygy" Lewis
Grant "b4nny" Vincent
Tyrone "enoryT" Wang
Kevin "mackey" Mackey
While the returning champs are, out of respect, the de facto favourites, the fact that they maintained their championship-winning roster throughout the turmoil of the offseason is the real reason why eMg is the early #1 in my books. Convincing shade to come back and stay on was a big move, considering how scarce the field is for Invite-calibre Medics (coL had so much trouble, they had to go steal someone else's), and it maintains the balance and chemistry this team has built up as they learned and grew together.
But Season 8 will be an entirely different beast for eMg - they're the targets now, they're in everyone's crosshairs, and other teams are going to start specifically counter-stratting their two big stars, b4nny and Yz50, much like teams did against carnage during his heydey. Or at least, they damn well better, otherwise we'll have a rinse-and-repeat of Season 7 since these guys are still, like, stupid-good.
COMPLEXITY TF2
Randy "BLACKYMONSTER" Besserman
Dan "carnage"
C "enigma" Y
"Sovereign"
Kyle "relic" Mims
Mike "Platinum" Miles
coL dropped a bomb on the community when it finally filled the holes created by the departing ex-fanom players, but as pheLon recently commented, it was pretty much the only thing they could do. coL (and carnage, for that matter) is not the type of team to pick up a new, up-and-coming Soldier and/or Medic to learn and grow with - they want guys who know how/are ready to win. Period.
With that said, I think coL's latest makeover is even better than last season's - Platinum's addition gives coL that fragging balance that they'd kinda lost since SoLIDSnaKE retired (no disrespect to the ex-fanoms, but Plat is a much stronger pure fragger), and takes some of the pressure off carnage and enigma to put up the big numbers. It is, however, a completely new beast for BLACKY to handle, since both carn and e are much more high-maintenance than, say, oPlaiD and mesr, which is a big adjustment for a guy who usually just stays on Plat's ass.
As for 'Sovereign', otherwise known as sweater... well, I gotta be honest here, I really don't know much about him, but coL made it to the Finals with a work-in-progress Demo last season, so I can't imagine Sov being much of a problem.
BLIGHT GAMING TF2
Tyler "Grillz" Hart
Sam "oPlaiD" Lingle
Justin "justin" White
Dustin "smaka" W
R "wonderwall" C
Nathan "cringe" Samra
NOTE: I've yet to 100% confirm this roster, and am going based on what makes the most sense.
Of the top 4, the lineup for Blight has me most worried, since this feels much more like a last-second patch job (which it was, though I have to admit that Sammy Sweetheart is damn good at patching holes, considering how little time he had) than an evolution of the roster. That being said, the return of ww- combined with justin moving back to Scout are two major thumbs up in my books, since both players are probably the most underrated of their respective classes (ww especially).
Medic is a bit of a question mark in my mind - since real life issues forced TheFragile to ask Blight to find a replacement, Grillz has stepped in despite not really Medic'ing with high-calibre players since his days with Strickland Propane/MoB Gaming. To go from piddling with AI and Harmonic to suddenly being the lynchpin of a major player in the TF2 scene is gonna be a challenge to say the least, and I wouldn't be surprised if a little rust showed in Grillz' game.
Len "CB" Talarico
Paul "CyZeR" S
Jay "BloodSire" Sire
Tim "dummy" Olson
Nick "ducky" Robson
Adam "Reptile" Dopko
Despite the fLame-fail end to Season 7 campaign, I expect nothing but excellence from the newly-minted Team Dynamic. The addition of BloodSire gives Dyn back its Sniper threat, which they'd lost when slardel stepped aside for fLame and had kinda hurt them in the picks department. ducky continues to be a perfect compliment to the Reptile factor and is a legit fragging force of his own rights, which is a damn tough thing to do with so much of CB's attention given to Rep.
But with so much strength residing in the Scout/Demo departments of the other teams, the one question that nags at me is whether or not this traditional brand of TF2, with the Soldiers really being the playmakers for Dyn, will be able to top the quick-strike ability of the defending champs, who are quietly setting a new standard for how to be dominant at TF2.
THE ROOKIE CHALLENGERS
Anthony "harbleu" Ballo
Matt "vhalin" Bearslayer
D "oov" M
Carson "Kalkin" Eades
Tyler "TLR" Morgan
Andrew "DaveAC" Cook
Of all the new rosters formed in the offseason (Invite or otherwise), THPS is probably the favourite to quickly establish themselves as a legit power in TF2 (with the new AG being a close second). While it may look like a hodge-podge roster at first glance, when you break down the styles of each player (especially the Soldier and Scout pairings), THPS probably has the most inter-complimentary 6 players in Invite. Seriously.
While they might be behind teams like eMg and Dyn in the team chemistry department (which just takes time), they've been working hard to catch up and are easily one of the busiest teams as far as scrimming and practicing goes.
I'm not gonna lie, I've got kind of an e-boner for these guys - they've got character, they've got talent, they've got swagger... man, I may as well just bend over now.
Nick "perL" Maludy
Brian "ricco" Ricciardelli
Kevin "ender" Garcia
Reed "boomer" Davis
Bryan "zbryan" Scott
Chris "TicTac" Brennan
AG strikes me as one of those teams that's got all the right pieces but might just be a season's worth of Invite experience away from really establishing themselves - that being said, every IM team I talked to from last season had nothing but the highest of praise for the pieces of Mighty Ducks that have evolved into this new version of AG.
And the pieces ender has plugged in at Soldier and Demo (basically the S7 Spacewhales) round out the roster perfectly in my mind, especially with the history/comfort/chemistry boomer and zbryan already have from playing together for so long. Plus, this roster is built to play the light-classed, high-paced brand of TF2 that has served eMg and coL so well in season's past, which will only help in AG's development.
Now, whether ricco and ender can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Yz50, carnage, oov, CyZeR, etc., is another matter altogether, but as a whole AG's got a solid foundation that great teams grow from.
FLAME IDIOT
Sean "seanbud" Stradley
Matt "clockwork" Dias
Matt "fLame" Rodriguez
Mike "Droog" Shugrue
Alex "Lange" Van Camp
Davis "davis" Ford
Team Manager: Mike "ehFk" Harkness
Awesome. Totally awesome. I love the fact that this team came together, and I also love the fact that their team website is GotFrag - it's like a joke wrapped around a joke wrapped around a middle finger. Fuck yeah.
While it'd be easy for me to pass this team off as another circle-jerk joke team that will have some fun and lose some games, it's actually a pretty talent-laden roster - now whether that talent (with a splash of worth ethic) actually turns into 'W's is another story. But hey, at least I've got a rooting interest for Season 8, right?
P.S. Yes, ehFk made me put him in. HE BE THE MANAGER, DOG.
APOPLEXY GAMING
J-D "Cinq" C
Eric "PapaSmurf32" Murphy
Katie "kaytee" Fox
Patrick "litany" Goulden
Mike "Jaeger" Marcin
J "warped" Li
NOTE: This roster is also not 100% confirmed, but is a little easier to puzzle out.
Alright I admit, 'rookie' is a harsh label for AI, since they were in ESEA-Invite last season, but I needed an adjective in the segment title and it just fit so perfectly :)
Tough to see AI climbing out of the bottom-half this season - they've had their own spring cleaning of the roster, but I don't think the addition of PapaSmurf is going to suddenly make the Papa/kaytee Scout combo an unstoppable force, while Jaeger will no doubt be spending most of this time playing in the SC2 league and is probably just filling in till a replacement is found.
Wins will be few and far between for these guys, unfortunately, but not every team in Invite this season can be the favourites.
That's all for now, tune back in tomorrow for more preview content (including Open and IM), as well as some preseason Power Rankings (assuming the schedule is released...).
Originally published on ESEA on 1/16/2011, 5:57 AM by 1rK-.
Archived from ESEA TF2 S8 Invite Preview as part of tf2esports.com's preservation of ESEA's TF2 coverage. All rights remain with the original author and ESEA; reposted for historical reference.