Duncan "dunc" Wraight

Duncan is a TF2 journalist from the community news site Resupply.eu.

He's also one of the most widely recognized British TF2 players, having played in teams like TCM and Ubersexuals. He is also the captain of the English TF2 National Tam. Dunc currently leads a new up-and-coming team, which has finally decided on the ironic team name 'what women want'.

"Team Dignitas as number one is self explanatory. Nothing has changed here, Dignitas are the same excellent team they were 6 months ago. They still enjoy playing together and are still, in my opinion, tactically superior to any team out there. Their level of team play is superb. They recently won Winter Assembly which was possibly the most competitive LAN event in TF2's history, hiding only behind the excellent cash PGCS LAN event. If we were looking at PCWs then I'm fairly sure I'd be placing illegal a little lower but all of their players seem to be "big game players", facing off very well against top opponents. Although they lost pretty sorely to Dignitas in the Winter Assembly LAN finals, they beat TCM and Power in the rest of the tournament and rightfully deserve the #2 spot this month.

Although PwR has now folded, based on recent results and especially LAN results, Power Gaming pip TCM to the 4th spot post. Having comfortably beaten TCM in the 3rd place playoff at Winter Assembly, and managing other close results against top opponents in recent ETF2L-hosted cups, I am placing Power Gaming in an honourary third place. TCM don't seem to have much luck at the moment. Although not too long ago everyone was quoting them as the new #1 team in Europe, excluding a brief spell where the majority of the top EU teams were essentially inactive, TCM haven't really done much to deserve such a reputation. They have played close games with Dignitas but ended up losing at Winter Assembly and then proceeded to lose to illegal, the team I have ranked as #2 for January.

It's difficult to place r@ts as high as fifth, because they've played few officials. However they have had a close game with illegal in the recent eSportsHeaven "Moray" cup which they lost by 3 rounds to 2. Having played against them and seen results from some of their games vs Dignitas et al in PCWs, I feel it's only right to put r@ts in 5th place. From here on in, it gets pretty difficult. I have no idea how good the following teams are and can't seem to find any of their January results, so these become ordered on what I know of their recent form in PCWs et al."

Dave "dave" Hopton

Dave is one of the new recruits to Cadred's TF2 coverage team. Dave concentrates fully on the coverage side, and doesn't play the game that much, but in the past he was a division 2 player in Team YoYoTech.

According to himself, Dave is a generally awesome player, amazingly attractive and an all-around incredible guy. This certainly qualifies him to be part of our respectable panel.

"Following the Christmas holidays, the top end of the TF2 scene has increasingly picked up pace with various Esports Heaven Cups, EMS games, the Winter Assembly LAN and the ETF2L Division 1 playoffs, which give us a fairly wide range of matches to look at to determine this month's rankings.

Unsurprisingly, it's Dignitas who take the top for me. They've been solid as ever, keeping things simple and enjoying a fairly easy win over Illegal at the Winter Assembly Final. Between the chasing pack, I'd say Illegal have the edge, and have consistently been pulling off good results, with TCM-Gaming and Power Gaming close behind (although sadly the Power side have now disbanded) and all capable of taking maps off each other.

There is definitely a clear gap beneath these top four teams and the rest of the top European sides, which will hopefully begin to close in the coming weeks. It's pretty hard to decide between FakkelBrigade and idk? because both have been quite inactive during recent weeks, but I'm giving FB the edge quite simply because they've had a more consistent line up, which in such a team-based game is definitely an advantage. However, the recent idk additions will undoubtedly help them compete with the top, so watch this space.

Finally, the bottom end of the table. Whilst these teams have been far more active, they're hard to place because they're new to the very top of the scene, having been recently promoted. If they can keep practising hard, I think teams like r@ts and Blight will be challengers to FB and idk?, and Dunc's team is only so near the bottom because of their lack of official results – I expect them however to leapfrog spots 5 and 6 and quickly become one of the top 4 teams if they can maintain a strong practice schedule, considering the hugely experienced players their roster boasts."

James J. "Admirable" McDonnell

James is the new head of TF2 coverage at Cadred. He concentrates to the daily coverage more than the others in our new team. James has been a long time community enthusiasist as well as a player in the Irish national team.

James has played in well known teams like Coolclan in the past and he's now playing in a promising young team called NORDIC.

"For me the most striking aspect of the TF2 scene in January was the distinct lack of games in the top tier. With a lack of empirical data to back up my infallible views I have had to rely on the intangible; the stirring in my loins when I watch Duncan “dunc” Wraight play is enough for me to slide teddybears (or whatever the nom de jour is) at tenth. Roster troubles have taken their toll on rockit, who have been over taken by their close rivals Blight in my estimations; the EMS three map nail-biter confirms my suspicions.

Although FB played a grand total of zero officials in January they are still a cut above the others, although I placed idk above them on the virtue of having actually played, albeit not very convincingly due to roster changes. I felt idk put up decent resistance to illegal in EMS, denying them the whitewash it could well have been, yet lost out to r@ts in the ESH Gorge cup was disappointing. The Germans sneak in at fifth position having performed quite consistently since sucking out in the EMS in December; their team is starting to gel together well now.

The cracks really showed in Power’s game in January: Monster Munch takes them to a golden cap in ESH, they fall apart against TCM in EMS and then Dignitas and illegal school them at WASM. Despite being pipped at the post by Power in the WASM Bronze match, I felt TCM made a stronger showing of themselves in the tournament not to mention the rest of their games this month and were worthy of third place with Power nipping on their heels in fourth. Illegal really cemented their status by steamrolling TCM and Power, yet still failed to challenge Dignitas, who predictably maintain their stranglehold on the European scene for another month."

Patrick "JimmyBreeze" Harvey

Patrick is another new addition to Cadred's TF2 coverage team. He retired from captaining a TF2 team last year, but since then he's only become busier in TF2, taking up positions as an ETF2L admin, Resupply editor, and as a columnist for Cadred.

Patrick is well known for his insightful, witty and sometimes subversive writing. He's either loved or hated by many in the TF2 scene because of his articles which often tackle topics that others are thinking about but are too timid to say out loud.

"Dignitas cemented, cast ironed, set in stone, and inscribed into mountain sides their undisputed position as the greatest TF2 team of all time with their majestic Winter Assembly performance. They're playing a different game from the rest of us. Sublimely skilled, creative and yet brutally efficient, they're the Roger Federer of TF2.

I never thought I'd use the adjective "athletic" to describe an e-sports team, but since I've already decided to dedicate this Top 10 to the Australian Open, you're all just going to have to meet me half way on this tortured tennis/TF2 metaphor extravaganza. (I hope the forthcoming analogies will function as an aid to those of you who don't follow TF2. For those of you who follow neither TF2 nor tennis, I'm really very sorry.) So here we go. Illegal have a certain spryness, agility and quickness - maybe even an athleticism! - about their hyper-aggressive play style that catapulted them to the top of the scene. It seemed like their lust for pixellated blood wasn't entirely compatible with being disciplined enough to achieve consistency, but they figured enough of it out in time to take second place at WASM. Relatively new to the scene, precocious, temperamental, and lacking social skills, they share a certain affinity with Andy Murray!

Team CoolerMaster had a seriously turbulent January, initially dominating everything online that Dignitas didn't participate in, and then seeing their stock fall Lehman Brothers style after a shock non-podium finish at WASM. I'm hoping to write a little more about that for my first Cadred article (assuming that Gonzo and/or Durus don't liquidate me for this crime against e-sports journalism), so I don't want to go into too much detail here. Let's focus on the positive: they beat Illegal in EMS and they still have one of the deepest and hardest working rosters around. They remind me of a certain defensive base-liner, Andre "The Punisher" Agassi, minus the cocaine and awesome wigs.

And the rest of the pack... Power Gaming (who won our hearts, if not tournaments: Tim Henman); Blight, who just last night gave Illegal a decent game (weirdly powerful and attractive: Serena Williams); r@ts (old and German: Boris Becker); I Don't Know? (much nicer than they are talented: Greg Rusedski); Rockit (kind of share Andy Roddick's nickname!); FakkelBrigade (like my mate Barry with the murderous backhand who likes to talk about how he could have gone pro if he wanted while watching every episode of "Family Guy" back-to-back and eating pizza); and finally, Teddybears, who like the young British talent Laura Robson, have great things in their future assuming they make it past puberty."

Juho "Moose" Pättö

Juho is the only remaining member of the original TF2 coverage team here at Cadred.

Juho formerly captained one of TF2's most legendary teams, Power Gaming. He is currently taking a well deserved break from playing at the top end of the scene, but is staying active as an editor for Resupply and writer for Cadred.

"It's interesting to see how the rankings have changed since we last did them for TF2 in May. Five of the teams that were on the list still remain there today.

Dignitas' place at the top has been challenged time and time again but somehow they manage to come out on top almost always when things get tough. In January they once again took their rightful place as the number one team in the scene with their convincing win at Assembly Winter, where all the top teams from the scene where present. Illegal took the second place just as clearly, but the third and fourth places could have gone to either TCM or PwR. TCM won Power Gaming online in the EMS upper bracket final, but lost to the Finns in the bronze match of the Assembly Winter. However, the Assembly game was very, very tight and TCM was unlucky with a player drop, so I believe our judges gave priority for the EMS win because of this.

The remaining places from five to ten will look very different come February. January was still a quiet month after the Christmas break in leagues, so things are expected to heat up very soon with the EMS finals coming and the new ETF2L season along with the constant Esports Heaven cups."

You'll be able to catch more thoughts from our panel with Cadred's February Rankings in a month's time!