The best teams in North American TF2 go head to head tonight as the Alienware Arena Bigfoot Killer Edge Challenge comes to a climatic finale

Our good friends across the pond are getting all fired up tonight for the Alienware Arena Bigfoot Killer Edge Challenge Finals: it’s like its Thanksgiving, Christmas and Superbowl Sunday all rolled in to one.

Over the past two months 106 teams have been whittled down to just 4 remaining challengers. Complexity Gaming (formerly Loaded) have already secured their place in the grand final through a forfeit win over close rivals Team Pandemic, who themselves had been guilty of some controversial application of the CEVO rules after losing to Team Dynamic (formerly Point and Click) only to have the result overturned.

Team Pandemic may get a chance to turn the tables if they can produce the goods in the Lower Bracket but at this late stage of the tournament you can guarantee that there will be stiff competition. Blight Gaming will be facing off against eMazing Gaming (formerly Farmers Market) for a shot at Evil Geniuses in the next round; the winner of this then has to get past Team Pandemic if they want a shot at the grand final and glory everlasting.

SourceTV: tf2tv1.apoplexyservers.com:27020

SourceTV: tf2tv1.apoplexyservers.com:27020

I tracked down complexity Gaming and Team Ireland phenomenon, Brad "PYYYOUR" Ross, to glean some insight on North American TF2.

Q&A with Brad "PYYYOUR" Ross

Top o' the morning to you my Irish brother! How are you feeling today? Are you psyched? Do you have your game face on?

Awoke from a slumber to an overcast day so I feel like I am back in Ireland. Nursing some wounds from last night and of course.

Haha! Sounds like some self-inflicted injuries there man, but you've still got some time to recover. Do you intend to watch the lower bracket games or will you guys be getting some last minute preparation in?

We do not plan on playing until closer to our match time so I assume we will be getting dinner, relaxing, catching 1-2 of the games; it is nice to be able to watch your competition muster their talent in preparation to play you.

Who do you see as your biggest threat in the tournament? Who would you least like to face in the grand final?

The dark horse in this tournament is eMg. If they can manage to beat EG, I see them cruising to play coL in the finals. The safe bet is on EG, so I would have to say the biggest threat is Reptile, Destro, and a young pheLon.

Interesting! It should make for some great spectating action tonight. For those in Europe who are unfamiliar with the North American scene, who are the impact players on each team?

Blight plays hyper aggressive with Seagull. eMg relies on a game changing demo in B4nny. Pandemic has all around "high skilled" players but doesnt have JUST ONE impact player. Beyond those teams EG has Reptile standard and compLexity has the bleedin' deadly scout combo.

There is a good prize pool at stake here for an online event; is that common in American TF2? What other events are on the radar?

Every 2-3 months there is on online tourney just like this. There were a few recurrent "PAID" leagues, but ESEA remains the only played one as of now. There many many other leagues to cater to lower level teams.

Well here's hoping for a bright future for our beautiful game on both sides of the Atlantic. Best of luck to you tonight my man, I hope to see some insane micro and clutch air heals!

Thank you very much - shoutouts to Exfane, JimmyBreeze, Extremer, and m0re

With a substantial prize pool of $2,279.94 USD in cash and prizes to be split amongst the top three places, you can expect to see the no holds barred all out TF2 action kicking off from about 21:00 GMT with up-to-date streams and STVs available in the match ticker.

Drama update

News has just reached my ears that Evil Geniuses have been disqualified at the last minute for fielding Irish national, Murrough "Predz" O'Brien. Unfortunately the rules state:

The Tournament is open only to residents of any state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia and any Province of Canada (other than Quebec) that are 13 years of age or older as of November 29, 2009, and who properly register for the Tournament (each a “Player”).

The plot thickens further as it turns out Murrough was actually born in Florida. It's hard to know what to make of this bureaucratic mess!

Furthermore Team Pandemic are now unable to field a team tonight and also will be forfeiting. This means the winner of the first Lower Bracket game will go straight through to the Grand Final vs compLexity Gaming which will now be at an earlier time than scheduled. Keep watching the match ticker for the latest updates!

Alienware Arena Bigfoot Killer Edge Challenge
Full brackets
Forfeit drama on GotFrag