Things are well underway in the biggest Team Fortress competition in the world, ETF2L Season 7. We eye up the Week 3 Division fixtures and ask five more lucky players what they think...

Tsk! Tsk! Another week on and they are still running behind schedule, those schmucks would be late to their own funerals. Although, there has been an abundance of top level Team Fortress 2 played since last week with Esport Heaven’s ASRock Turbo Challenge, Sennheiser Challenge and the ultimate game of ESL’s Major Series Season V, so I’ll let you off this week Division 1, but don’t let it happen again!

In an addendum to last week’s round-up I pointed out that Team Rockit’s untimely demise had opened the door for I Don’t Know?’s Frog squad to make the leap up to Division 1. So we have the full quota of teams in the division, five games a week, this is surely great news? Well, yes in the simplest terms it was undoubtedly correct for ETF2L to replace the late Rockit before the competition had got fully underway, but the manner in which they have conducted themselves has lit the touch paper on league’s forums.

The heaving masses have expressed the full gamut of emotions from outrage to elation at the admin team’s decision to promote the Frogs to Division 1. Many have debated over which team is better or more deserving of promotion, but for me the crux of the argument lies in the actual process undertaken to select the team. Despite there having been an actual playoff two weeks prior to this between www and broder, the admins decided to discard the logic that underpins the very structure of the league and have an internal vote instead to determine which team would move up.

There is no shadow of a doubt in my mind that the Frogs are worthy of the position they have been granted, yet I find it hard to grasp how the line between them and broder was so clear cut that they could just arbitrarily pick one team for promotion; the whole notion goes against the spirit of competition. The community backlash has not gone unnoticed by the admins who ruled out the possibility of a playoff due to time constraints, which I thought was quite laughable considering a grand total of zero games had been played and at a period in the season which is traditionally lax in its scheduling.

Deepthroat sources within the ETF2L organisation have suggested that the admin team are disinclined to compromise on their position as they don’t want to be seen in as fallible. So they will stick to their guns and deny any wrong doing until they are blue in the face. I can respect that on some level but I ponder where does it all end? At the end of the day we have ten great top tier teams eager to duke it out, but the community should not be placated so easily and must remain vigilant for any admin indiscretions! Sliding the old soapbox to one side for now, let’s take a look at the designated maps for Week 3.

This week we see one of the golden oldies, Granary, juxtaposed with the pretentious newcomer, Gullywash. Granary has featured in competitive Team Fortress 2 since day dot, although it was troubled by a gate fetish in its teenage years it has always remained a firm favourite. The middle fight offers plenty of cover on the flanks with adjacent crates producing great vantage points for Soldiers to contest. Playing Granary should be instinctive to every player in Division 1 by now so we can expect to see some flowing, fast-paced plays from the combatants.

Gullywash is a map fearless in its design; straying from some of the more traditional thinking to produce a unique experience and yet remaining familiar. The middle presents a vast array of flanking options for Scouts, good cover for Snipers, chokepoints for Demomen to lockdown and a raised centrepiece for Soldiers to reign down fiery death. Although strategies are probably not as well rehearsed as Granary, the map gives some great opportunities for strategic play and general carnage.

I found five more gullible victims this week to impart some wisdom on this week’s fixtures. Over to you guys...

FakkelBrigade's Joseph "Fisshu" Carter thinks...

"TLR are looking in great shape at the moment and will probably be expecting to win both maps. From personal experience, their players are confident in their deathmatching ability and as a team make sure that when they push, it counts. Empire need to maintain a strong counter-attacking style of play and keep TLR on their toes over both maps, otherwise they are going to be disappointed with the results."

TCM-Gaming's Bart "skinnie" De Helt thinks...

"To be honest I have no clue who is going to win this. We didn't play Blight at all in the last weeks and I only watched them play vs Dignitas, but you can't draw any real conclusions from that. Fakkelbrigade seems to continue their stable performance, which showed in a draw vs TLR, and they have been playing longer with the same line-up so that will give them the advantage. I think if Blight has a good day, they can make it a draw. Will definitely try to watch it, at least to check out Blight's new players."

Team Empire's Andrew "dronos" Denisov thinks...

"I’m expecting a SHOW on Granary because both teams know it very, very well and can use few different tactics such as Kritz or aggressive demo jumps. Gullywash is gonna be close because of its crap map design. My bet is a tie on Granary and win on Gullywash for idk."

I Don't Know?'s Anders "F2" Carstensen thinks...

"Dignitas haven't been as convincing lately as they used to be, while www have already caused some upsets amongst the top teams. I guess the outcome will depend on dunc’s mood on the particular playday, so my best guess is a draw."

I Don't Know? Frog's Sidney "Sidney" Jeannol thinks...

"Power Gaming has amazing recent results like the EMS finals and a second place in ETF2L season 6, but I would bet on idk? for sure. Their amazing new line-up, which has surprised everyone in the Sennheiser ESH cup by beating Dignitas on Granary and TCM on Gullywash; two great results for idk? on these two maps. However, idk? have shown a weakness on Granary versus TCM on the Sennheiser final with a 0-5 thrashing. Granary will be based on the Soldiers form and Power Gaming would be advantaged on this side. Gullywash will probably be doubtful. Nonetheless, I would go for idk? taking the two maps with close scores (Extremer to carry)."

The new ETF2L channel is your one-stop-shop for all the latest schedule, spectating and results updates, so don’t touch that dial; keep it locked on Cadred!

I am the Batman.

ETF2L Season 7 Week 3 Fixtures
Frogs Drama Thread