Dave "dave" Hopton looks at what has happened to TF2 since it last graced Cadred.org, and where the scene is now.

This article is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.
It's been exactly 137 days since the last piece of TF2 news was posted on Cadred. A small, simple news item that announced that the EnemyDown admins had left the organisation to run their own independent Nations Cup, it was hardly a fitting end to coverage of a game that was most definitely on the rise, pushed forward by a dedicated band of players who were keen to see more and more people play TF2 competitively.

It would be a gross understatement to say that quite a lot has happened in the 4 and a half months that have followed, so it seems only fitting that the first piece to be written about the scene upon it's return to Cadred should be one that looks back over this period, at the highs and lows, the best and the worst of what has been – on balance – a fairly mixed time for TF2. It's also a great opportunity to announce to the wider eSports audience what the European TF2 community is about – what's going on in our scene, what we believe in, and what our future looks like.

The health of a gaming scene is often determined by 3 things – the number of people playing the game, the number of MGOs involved, and the number of leagues and LANs that are running tournaments for teams to get stuck in to. When you last heard from us, it's fair to say that TF2 was thriving. The player base was increasing at a rapid rate, with the number of teams signing up for some of the biggest leagues around – ETF2L, Enemy Down, ESL and Wire Play – at an all-time high. We had MGOs - Dignitas, Crack Clan (now Power Gaming), 4Kings, The Imperial, Team CoolerMaster (now TCM-Gaming) and Team YoYoTech to name but a few.

We also had LAN events. Many of the top teams had just travelled to London for the UKeSA Finals, and however appalling they were, the event represented a big step for the competitive community. Finally we were being rewarded with cash prizes just as big – if not bigger – than games like CS:S and CoD4, games that are undeniably some of the biggest in eSports. TF2 had arrived.

Less than perfect, but still a big step – conditions at UKeSA

It's fair to say then that things looked good. Many top players were confident that things could only get better, and fuelled on by the money they won at UKeSA, were keen to attend more LANs around Europe and push the game even further. The casual end of the scene was growing increasingly quickly, and companies like ShopTo.Net announced that they would be running TF2 competitions – surely in recognition for our growing status as a top competitive game.

But then it all started to go wrong. As time went on, pay outs from UKeSA looked increasingly less likely to appear, and MGOs were put under some financial strain after coughing up to cover entrance, travel and hotel costs for their teams. EnemyDown, one of the largest leagues in the European scene, went through serious turmoil under the ever brilliant management of TWNA and consequently the TF2 admin staff left, leaving hundreds of teams with one less competition to play in. The aforementioned ShopTo.Net tournament was pulled after a poor response from the TF2 community, even though it was offering some great cash and hardware prizes. It seemed that everything that could go wrong had.

The icing on the cake was undoubtedly the announcement that Team Fortress 2 would remain a Fun Tournament at i37. After all the hard work many of the top players had put in to get TF2 as one of the Premier games in UKeSA, it seemed certain that Multiplay would follow the trend and offer some serious money that would attract teams from all around Europe, and only bolster the scene's image as a top flight game. But they didn't.

Many articles have been written that have attempted to understand why this happened, and it's certainly true to say that not all of it was the TF2 community's fault. Any game involved with UKeSA has a right to be angry at the way TWNA acted, but TF2 arguably lost more than most. The event was meant to be the springboard that launched the game to ever greater heights, but in the aftermath the community lost two whole leagues and a considerable amount of money. Some of the top teams began to lose motivation, and decided to call it quits, bringing down with them the high profile support of MGOs like The Imperial and 4Kings, who never looked to replace the empty places left behind. It was a continually downward spiral, and I must confess that personally I thought it might be the end of TF2 - a real shame considering the game was relatively young and was just starting to be recognised throughout Europe.

Thankfully though, this community remains determined to see the game get the attention it deserves, and who have too much invested in TF2 to simply give up. This faith was rewarded on a dreary morning in September, when Multiplay announced that i38 would be offering a TF2 tournament with a minimum £1.5k prize pot, and the potential to increase to £2.5k if 64 teams signed up. Even better was the news that soon followed, that DreamHack - the biggest LAN in the world - would be offering a TF2 tournament at their event at the end of November, and finally, that the Finnish Assembly LAN would be organising a competition worth €3110 at the Winter Assembly in January.

We couldn't have asked for more. There was light at the end of the tunnel, something to aim for to make the hours of practise worthwhile, and with each event, the community has responded increasingly well. Although the turn out at i38 was small, the teams there more than made up for it by rallying together and supporting Power Gaming and Team YoYoTech in the Grand Final, making a considerable amount of noise during what was an absolutely brilliant match, showcasing exactly why we believe TF2 is such a good game. Dignitas, a side that has dominated the European scene for a considerable time, went to DreamHack to fly the TF2 flag, and nearly all of the top 10 TF2 teams are signed up and ready to attend The Winter Assembly, in just under a weeks time.

The i38 TF2 Grand Final – Exactly what the scene needed

So where does that put the scene now? Well, we're still running a bit short on leagues, and there aren't quite as many MGOs with teams as there were a few months ago, but there are definitely some positive signs. The Assembly LAN should provide some absolutely fantastic, close games of TF2 to showcase its potential to a large audience, and Multiplay have announced that i39 will continue to support the scene with another minimum prize pot of £1.5k. Sign-ups for the event have already far exceeded that of i38, and that's before any top teams put their names down. The number of players involved in playing competitively has also continued to grow, with well over 2,400 gamers signed up for the 7th ETF2L Season, and in a fairly unexpected and unprecedented move, Valve have begun a partnership with ETF2L to sponsor tournaments that reach out to public players and attract even more to play competitively.

The small but dedicated i38 TF2 community

There's no denying that TF2 isn't as big as many other games covered on Cadred. It still has a huge way to go before it reaches the level of notoriety that 1.6 enjoy, with professional teams performing on a global stage. That doesn't mean however, that it should be ignored, and be warned that this community will continue to push in every way possible to get TF2 played all around Europe at the highest level. The coverage team now at Cadred will be ready and waiting to document that growth, and we hope to bring you the absolute best in eSports journalism.

Here's to 2010 being the best year for TF2 yet.