Insomnia58
Birmingham 
Insomnia58, often simply called i58, is the successor to i55 and part of the Insomnia Gaming LAN Series hosted by Multiplay. It is considered to be the premier Team Fortress 2 tournament for the calendar year, featuring the best teams from across the globe in a head-to-head tournament. As yet teams from North America, Europe, Australia and Asia have expressed considerable interest in attending the tournament, which would make it the first LAN in the i-Series to feature teams from four different continents. The event will be held at The NEC in Birmingham, England from the 26th to the 29th of August 2016. An initial £5,000 prize pool was confirmed in mid-April 2016.[1]
Contents
Potential Participants
Australia/New Zealand
Australasia were not represented at the previous i55 competition for the first time in the series since i46, due to the former ten time ozfortress Winter League winners and two time i-Series participants Team Immunity deciding not to reform to attend the tournament[2] and that no existing teams were willing to replace them. Despite this, an Australasian team will be making their return to the I-series with Jasmine Tea, the ozfortress Season 15 winners.
ozfortress Winter Cup 14, ozfortress Summer Cup 2016 and ozfortress Season 15 winners Jasmine Tea have repeatedly expressed interest in attending the tournament. The team's medic and captain Brutalix` hinted at international competition in an interview during the ozfortress Summer Cup in late January 2016,[3] only to later comment that that the team "will be attending i58 assuming everything goes to plan".[4] Brutalix` and the rest of Jasmine Tea have also unofficially confirmed their plans to attend i58 through direct message.
The chances of an Australasian team attending i58 were solidified when the details of the OZF 15 Premier Division prize pool were released in March of 2016.[5] The prize pool, starting at $800, states that the winning team will have the decision of splitting it between the top three teams of the season, or taking the entirety to commit towards representing Australasia at i58.[6]
On June 6th, 2016 Paulsen officially confirmed Jasmine Tea's attendance to the internation LAN. The roster will, however, experience some shuffles: since Elmo is unavailable, Yui from Home Alone will fill the role in. Dave was also confirmed as the main medic of the team, hence he'll be attending i58 as Jasmine Tea's medic.[7]
Europe
Traditionally, European teams will make up the majority of the contenders for an i-Series due to its location. However, as yet only one European team has spoken of their plans for i58.
Perilous Gaming, ETF2L Season 23 finalists, have announced their intention to attend i58. Former team captain Sideshow stated on his Twitch stream that Perilous would show up, but that he would not be playing. On May 10th, Perilous Gaming announced that Mike had joined their roster to play pocket soldier, with Silentes moving to roaming soldier.[8] The soldiers swapped roles during ETF2L Season 24 although Sideshow, team captain, announced on stream that Mike would stop practicing with the team before i58 in order to focus on his Overwatch career. It is, as yet, unknown whether Mike will remain on the team or be replaced before the event.
During Fully Charged Europe - Episode 34, Crowns eSports' Thaigrr announced his team's intention of attending the event. Official confirmation with details of the attending roster has yet to be released.
During Fully Charged Europe - Episode 34, skeej confirmed his teams' attendance of the event and suggested that the team would arrive with their full roster.
North America
Since i46, two North American teams have attended every Insomnia Summer LAN event. froyotech and RONIN gg, who finished first and second in ESEA-I Season 21 respectively, have announced their intentions to play in i58.
froyotech, winners of the most recent ESEA-Invite season and the two previous i-Series competitions (albeit with a starkly different roster), are planning to compete at i58. Team captain and pocket soldier b4nny has repeatedly spoke of his team's intentions to attend on his Twitch stream.
RONIN gg, have also announced they are aiming to attend, although no official statement has been released by their owner organisation.
Prizes
| Place | $ USD | £ GBP | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
 1st
|
$- | £ - |  TBD"-" is not a number.
|
 2nd
|
$- | £ - | TBD"-" is not a number.
|
 3rd
|
$- | £ - | TBD"-" is not a number.
|
 4th
|
$- | £ - | TBD"-" is not a number.
|
References
- ↑ https://insomniagamingfestival.com/i58/tournaments/#TF2
- ↑ http://www.teamfortress.tv/22658#22
- ↑ https://youtu.be/MsJxeaxrN10?t=1h57m21s
- ↑ http://www.teamfortress.tv/31288/?page=3#62
- ↑ http://www.teamfortress.tv/32527/
- ↑ http://ozfortress.com/showthread.php?p=996879
- ↑ TFLIVE Roundtable: OZF 15 AwardsPaulsen annunced Jasmine Tea's attendance to i58
- ↑ http://www.teamfortress.tv/33565/
