to battle it out, in person

with the Europeans

at the i46 LAN in Telford, England.

This is TF2

Insomnia 46 is open!

Alright, welcome ladies and gentlemen to the i46 LAN

we're going to do a quick tour of what's going on here

show you a little bit

about the scope and the grandeur of this event.

There's a huge event hall at Telford, England.

This is just one half

of the computer players that we have

there's three halls that are about this size

this one has all the TF2 players in it

except for a few teams that are with organisations

the scope of this LAN is huge

there's so many players here, about 2500 players.

We also have third hall

that is filled with exhibitors, sponsors, companies

that are giving away products, showing of their products,

showing off their technology and showing off their games.

This LAN is probably

it is the biggest LAN that we've had for TF2

with the American teams coming over to the competition

we've got more top teams than we've had at the previous event.

We never had so many teams here that are like top level teams.

For the European scene we've had maybe

there's been, let's say 4 or 5 teams that could win the tournament

and other teams who can cause an upset

maybe eliminate 1 or 2 of these teams if they're lucky

In this one, it's incredibly hard to call

a lot of the teams have stepped up their game and ...

yeah this is the biggest, by far.

Yeah biggest by far and I mean it's

great respect to the community themselves

that have funded, partly funded

the American teams coming over

and I mean it's great to have them here

it's been about 4 years in the making and finally we have them here

finally, whoever will answer the, who is better, North America or Europe

but yeah, biggest by far

and it will hopefully be a great weekend.

We're going to take a look at the team that is possibly Americas best hope for the tournament

They along with the other American team

are getting ready to play in the tournament here at i46.

Some of them just flew in this morning

using plane tickets bought through a community fundraiser.

Everyone wants to see these two American teams play in person

against the Europeans for the first time

where lag and ping won't be a deciding factor.

My money is on...

I've got to stick with...

Epsilon.

You can't say Epsilon!

I'm going to have to stick with Epsilon.

They are the most consistent team in Europe

so what I mean by that is that they may lose games

but they also always win others, if you understand

everyone has their own loss as well they have downtime,

they haven't practiced,

going out to have parties, whatever

that always happens to everyone especially in this nice summer weather of England.

It's raining a lot but...

I mean, they always seem to put it back together and

today they haven't been beaten so far

and it's hard to go against that sort of performance.

They have the skill in the individuals as well to just go through the tournament

it will be interesting to see what the sort of American taste of things

American flavour of things will do to the tournament

my money firmly sits with them, at the moment.

Who's going to win the tournament?

Epsilon, is my pick as well unfortunately

no I've said that Epsilon are going to be the pick but...

the other positions, I honestly think that Classic Mixup...

if anyone is going to stop Epsilon at this tournament

Classic Mixup are going to be the team who could possibly take it from them

however, LG gaming as well

I honestly think that this could be an Epsilon

winning the grand final with

Classic Mixup second, LG third

but maybe an Infused - TCM battle for kind of the 5th place

you're right with what you said, Epsilon they...

their gameplay is just so beautiful to watch

in a kind of romantic way

when one player falls back because he needs help

players push forward with him to try and support him

half of the strategies I don't know who comes up with them...

So that means

if you're going for LG and Mixup for 2nd and 3rd

that means that you think they're going to face each other

in the consolation final.

Consolation final?

The winner of that would go to face Epsilon.

So you're saying that there will be an all American match at some point

which could be interesting.

My name is pyyyour, Bradford Ross

and I am a Medic for Classic Mixup.

I've probably played the longest out of the crew

and everyone else is about as long as me

maybe TLR started a couple seasons later than myself.

In terms of the crew

there is Enigma, Platinum

Ruwin and myself we're just

superduper friends

Ruwin is like my best e-friend

we get along, we're both pretty corky.

We're having a lot of fun because

like I was saying we trust each other

we're skilled, so we can count on each other

and we're all LAN proven which has

worked out a lot better this LAN than my previous LAN in Dallas, TX.

My name is Sven, Ruwin

I play Team Fortress 2

I enjoy it

and I'm glad to be here in Europe, it's awesome

I've known pyyyour, Brad for a long time

he is one of the masterminds of the game

he really truly understands it, understands the dynamic behind it

there's not a whole lot of people that do

I try

but I guess my brain is not big enough

I don't think I've ever seen Brad rage before

I mean he gets a little upset

but anyone who is really into gaming, really into competition

will get upset

whether it's a videogame or a sport

or just anything that they're passionate about

no I've never seen him go over the top or yell or anything ever

he'll usually just step back

take a breath

pretty level-headed.

as a team we'll hang out in mumble pretty much whenever we're online

so we have that going on for us

we like each other, which really helps

that's been going for LG for a long time

they've all been friends they've all enjoyed each other's company

in terms of my friends online

there are those that I can be on a team with

and not rip my eyeballs out

the people that I like talking to because I have something to learn from them

or the people that are just really funny

to just talk to them they make you laugh

in real life if you have a poopy day

you talk to like my friend Lange

Lange will like bring you back up in a heartbeat

which is really cool about online

we get along on the team and he knows me well

so whenever I'm getting a little anxious

anything with the team he brings me back in

and then the same thing with Ruwin if someone's upset at Ruwin

I make sure that the situation is ok.

we definitely try to hang out as much as possible

play other games together

play, offlclassing

teambuilding is great

I guess is what I'm getting at

if you're going to be playing a game and it's team based

make sure that you know your teammates in and out

and know how to make them play at their best

The i46 Team Fortress 2 tournament

has teams of six players competing against each other on maps

in which the goal is to capture control points.

Most of these maps feature five control points

that must be captured in sequence.

Teams begin on opposite ends of the map

and start each round by trying to capture the middle point.

Six player teams most often use

two Scouts

two Soldiers

one Medic

and one Demoman during this opening rollout.

Points are captured by standing on them.

More players result in a faster capture

and captures can be blocked by the opposing team.

Once a team has captured the middle point

the next point becomes available for capture.

The team that lost the middle point can reclaim it

but must simultaniously defend their second-to-last control point

which captures faster.

Losing that point opens up a teams last point for capture.

When a team has captured all control points

the round is over

and one point is rewarded to the winning team.

The team to score the most points within 30 minutes wins the map.

Starting with the Best-Of-16

maps were played in a Best-Of-3 format.

I am Seb Barton

I live in Plymouth in England and I am 19 years old.

Why do you play Demoman?

Because when I first tried to pick it up I heard it was the hardest class

I wanted a challenge, so I've picked it up and tried it

and I've enjoyed it since.

I think the Americans have wow'd everybody to be honest.

they've put in so much more effort

they're far more professional than the Europeans

everyone over here

they're more focussed on the partying and the drinking really

and then the Americans have come over they have been practicing

they've been talking tactics with each other

they've been even asking us for pcw's, scrims

we weren't expecting that

and it shows, the results.

They're very aggressive

really aggressive, there's no stopping them.

Sometimes the Europeans will like to stop

build uber, talk about what we think we should do

what had happened last time

and we like to talk things out mid-game

Americans, they're straight in there

there's no stopping them, there's no time to think about anything

you have to react to be able to deal with it

they've done a lot better this LAN.

if one person is pushing in, no matter what game you're really playing

if a person is pushing in and you are in a team

and they expect something from you

they expect you to

fire in their direction, they expect you to help them

you have to help them

it's on the teams that they don't help each other

that you can't pull off being aggressive

and putting it all on the line

with us, when someone's going in

they know that they're going to get support from the rest of the team

and the people giving the support know that

that person going in knows that

it's just a give and take that tends to work out because we trust each other.

I'd say so far the soldiers have surprised me the most

here in Europe, I kind of expected them to be a little bit worse

but their aim is pretty spot on

and their positioning is pretty good as well their scouts have been doing ok

I haven't played Epsilon yet

so I can't really say much to that

in terms of Scouts but, how much experience I have against LG

Clockwork and Cyzer

there's really no Scout pair like that

with the support of b4nny on any other type of team, any other dynamic like that.

Europe's Team Infused plays Classic Mixup in the upper-bracket semi finals.

The first map is a disaster

with Darn smashing his keyboard

crashing his PC and his teams momentum in the process.

The second map is closer