Strong Opinions
Strong Opinions is a highlander team currently competing in ETF2L Premiership and UGC Platinum.
Contents
Origin
Strong Opinions was founded at the start of 2015 under the name of 'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'. The team aimed to play in the High division in ETF2L for Season 8, and their first tournament together was ETF2L's 6th Experimental One-Night Highlander Cup. Placed in the High bracket, the team went on to beat Premiership opposition (such as WASP) on the way to victory in the tournament. There were a number of a roster changes after the cup, and during the ensuing season. After a number of departures, CeeJaey took over leadership, and the team decided a change of name and identity was needed.
The team were rebranded as 'Strong Opinions' - an ongoing joke that the team's Soldier, Raptor, had a strong opinion on every topic. S-O went on in ETF2L Season 8 High, sealing a playoff spot on the last matchday, but unfortunately losing out in the semi-finals to eventual winners MegaKillerz eSports. This third place result was seen as something to build on for the future.
Premiership
Following Season 8, the team needed a new Heavy, after the loss of Sad Panda. S-O used UGC Platinum Season 16 as an opportunity to trial new players, and they made playoffs - finishing in 4th place overall. However, this saw feeling grow tired of Scout, and move to backup on the team. The team still had aspirations of playing in the Premiership division for Season 9, but a recruitment drive was required. Thalash was brought in on Scout, and following DeutschLAN Emilio Estevez & Stevepander joined as Heavy and Pyro respectively. After MegaKillerz eSports folded, their Spy Toast also joined the ranks, resulting in a full roster.
Strong Opinions applied for Premiership for Season 9, and beat Team Colonslash: Express in the qualifiers to guarantee their place. During the pre-season thoughts were divided on how well S-O would fare in Prem - however they managed to secure their spot in the playoffs with a match to spare. During the Premiership Playoffs of Season 9 they knocked out Highpander in the Semi-Finals, before beating defending champions Tourettes Chessclub in the Grand Final to become the winners of Season 9 Highlander.
Dominance
Following this triumph, the team would enjoy a period of dominance that would establish them as, arguably, the best team in the history of Highlander. Moving to UGC Platinum Highlander, Strong Opinions went on an undefeated run of 12 games to win the title, only dropping 3 rounds in total. They then participated in the Pre-Season Map Test Cup, defeating Highpander in the final for another tournament win. Unfortunately, after this cup win, Demoman Korv had issues with internet and had to step down from a starting position - with alle replacing him as main. During ETF2L Season 10 the team would go on to finish 2nd in the regular season - winning their Semi-Final against The Bureau and beating top seed Fair Enough in the Grand Final to seal their second successive Premiership title.
After this saw some of Strong Opinions best performances, winning two BlackOut Invitational Cups, another UGC Platinum title and travelling to Germany to win DeutschLAN 2016 - the latter two competitions were won without dropping a single round. ETF2L Season 11 saw the team win all their matches on route to becoming Champions once again (albeit due to a default win in the Grand Final due to Chessclub's lack of availability) and thus becoming the first team to win three successive Premiership Highlander titles since SNSD won the first three editions. During this period Strong Opinions went on an undefeated run of 51 matches (55 when including default wins), beating the previous record in Highlander of 31 by SNSD.
Roster
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Maros |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | Stevepander |
Demoman | adamracek |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Seal |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Toast |
ETF2L Season 12
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Funs |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | Stevepander |
Demoman | alle |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Seal |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Toast |
UGC Season 21
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Thalash |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | Stevepander |
Demoman | alle |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Seal |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Toast |
ETF2L Season 11
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Villdjack |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | Stevepander |
Demoman | alle |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Seal |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Toast |
UGC Season 20
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Villdjack |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | Stevepander |
Demoman | alle |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Seal |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Toast |
DeutschLAN 2016
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | feeling |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | goreston |
Demoman | adysky |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Doom |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | kcot |
Spy | Toast |
UGC Season 19
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Thalash |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | Stevepander |
Demoman | alle |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Seal |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Toast |
ETF2L Season 10
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Thalash |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | Stevepander |
Demoman | korv |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Doom |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Toast |
UGC Season 18
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Thalash |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | Stevepander |
Demoman | korv |
Heavy | Emilio Estevez |
Engineer | Seal |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Toast |
ETF2L Season 9
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | feeling |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | MARS^ |
Demoman | korv |
Heavy | X-Wing |
Engineer | Seal |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Elazul |
UGC Season 16
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | feeling |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | MARS^ |
Demoman | korv |
Heavy | sad panda |
Engineer | Spade |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Elazul |
ETF2L Season 8
Roster | |
---|---|
Scout | Carlotso |
Soldier | Raptor |
Pyro | goreston |
Demoman | Seal |
Heavy | sad panda |
Engineer | RTC |
Medic | CeeJaey |
Sniper | Cloudy |
Spy | Elazul |
ETF2L HL Experimental Cup #6