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The Competition Remains the Same!

Highlander Winter '25 is here and for our 10th season, we have a few things we'd like to tell you about! While we need to address some whitelist changes, Map Pool additions and staff rotations we still have the goal of bringing you more Highlander competition that you love and we love bringing to you!

Signups

You can sign up for Highlander Autumn '25 from today (Thursday the 22nd of May) until Friday the 6th of June at 11:59pm AEST. With that said, we'll aim to have seedings out by Sunday the 8th or Monday the 9th of June at the latest with the Season starting on Wednesday the 11th of June.

SIGNUP NOW · SEASON PAGE


Winter '25 Changes to come!

Rule Changes, Penalties & Roster Shrinkage

As discussed in our previous News Post we have made numerous changes to our Rules and Penalty System which will all be taking effect as we planned. However, arguably the biggest change that will be taking place is the Roster Shrinkage.

Upon reflecting on our idea to reduce Highlander roster's down to 12 players from the original 15, we feel that this change would be to harsh to implement from the get go. Especially with a wider variety of classes being needed as subs on an active Highlander roster 3 subs didn't seem like quite enough. Ultimately, we have decided that Highlander rosters this season will consist of 13 players. We will monitor this smaller roster size throughout the season and reflect upon it internally post season.


Map Pool

Proside

For the second time in a row a Highlander Map vote has ended in a tie - this time between Proside and Cascade, both receiving 22.7% of votes each. To settle this tie, we have once again left the decision to our advisor team. Ultimately Proside (pro version of Lakeside) was decided to be the one rounding off the pool of 9 maps for this season.

Proot

In light of players warming up to Proot more over the past 2 seasons, we have decided to not rotate it out and instead keep it around for the foreseeable future. While this did go against our initial philosophy of 'aggressive map rotations', we would be remiss if we didn't give players the opportunity to play maps that they both like and wish to see more of. This also means that the map pool now has an equal amount of King of the Hill and Payload maps. However, we still intend to alternate swapping out maps of different game types at the end of each season to continue bringing players some variation and the opportunity to find new favorites.


Whitelist Changes

Airstrike

The Airstrike will be unbanned after nearly a decade of absence from Highlander. Though it's crazy to consider a weapon being unbanned after so long, the community has made it very clear that this weapon deserves a chance in the upcoming season. Exactly 50% of voters believed that the weapon should be unbanned, with a sizable 22.7% being indifferent on the weapon's inclusion or exclusion in Winter '25 Highlander's whitelist. We will moderate it's usage throughout Winter and check in on it again at the end of the season.

Loch n Load

In a much closer vote the Loch n Load will remain banned with 42.4% supporting this decision and 39.4% being opposed. With votes consistently being this close we will continue to keep an eye on this discussion and carry out additional polls for the items inclusion in future competitions as we see fit.


Goodbye General Feedback Forms

Simply put, the General Feedback Forms weren't as effective as we'd thought they'd be and moving forward we won't be using them any longer. We intend to modify post season surveys in a way that makes them easier to digest similar to what we did with the Pre-Winter'25 Survey prior to the start of this season. However, we know it's important for teams and players to submit verbal, written information so we will be sure to have an outlet for those looking to provide feedback that way.


Staff Changes

indy and her jones and Cryo

We're happy to announce that both indy and her jones and Cryo will be joining our staff team this season as the newest Trial Highlander Administrators. They'll be joining redja, woozy, Sperkle and of course Pulse who has now moved past his trial status and become a fully fledged League Administrator. Both indy and Cryo have proven themselves to be fantastic advisors in the past who made it clear to our us that they care about this scene and bettering it in anyway they can. We're excited for them to join the ozfortress staff family and wish them the best going into Winter '25.

Kai

Typically when a member of staff steps down we will make note of it, thank them in a post and personally for giving up their time to assist us in running competitions and seasonal leagues. Kai deserves that and then some. Kai has given up so much of her time and energy making ozfortress a better place and has decided that she is ready to step down from her position. Since she joined the staff team back in Season 5/Spring '23, Kai has acted as an admin for 5 highlander seasons as well as provided consistent admin support for numerous off season cups and events. She has always gone out of her way from tracking Highlander teams and players before signups have closed in order to make seedings easier to actively reaching out to users with useful resources, on top of always being on call when she can be for league related issues. Truly the GOAT of league admins and we can't thank her enough for all she has done. You've left a profound impact on staff, players, and ozfortress as a whole Kai. All of us wish you nothing but the best for your future. May you have many more holidays (God knows you've earned them) and a life full of lovely cats and kittens. Thank you for all you've done boss!



Sun May 18 18:45:09 2025 5 days ago

Sixes Autumn '25 (S42) - Winners & Award Recipients

Congratulations to the winners of each division and the award recipients!

Below are the Final Rankings and Awards for the Autumn '25 season of Sixes.



(Graphic by dezi)

Congratulations Premier winners Witness Gaming!

Placements

- Witness Gaming
- blg fmcl E witness brianlander lugga lite BLACK.
- Duck Journal Junkies
- street money syndicate

Grand Final Map Scores

Match

Bronze Final Map Scores

Match

Awards

Best Combo Scout: cooki (23), dauq (13), wils (6)
Best Flank Scout: silvo (20), trev (12), gotaki (12)
Best Pocket Soldier: sheep (19), conor (18), hertz (9)
Best Roaming Soldier: down (21), feyn (12), takeyon (10)
Best Demoman: enrith (23), matt (14), daz (12)
Best Medic: lau (24), atten (11), remorse (6)
Best Utility: silvo (20), hungry4eggs (11), omni (10)

Most Improved Player: trev (16), golden terrestrial (9), gotaki (9)
Most Valuable Player: cooki (11), enrith (10), sheep (6)
Most Improved Team: nnn (17), net profit (8), ascension (6)
Friendliest Team: bones pugs (10), blg fmcl e witness brianlander lugga lite black (7), net profit (7)
Best Dressed Team: net profit (11), blg fmcl e witness brianlander lugga lite black (10), bones pugs (10)

Best Caster: ghost (16), snazzy (9), freaky (8)



(Graphic by dezi)

Congratulations High winners yellow rat!

Placements

- yellow rat
- blank's salt free burgers
- Willys angels
- Terrible Tactics

Grand Final Map Scores

Match

Bronze Final Map Scores

Match

  • Sunshine: 4 - 1
  • Process: 5 - 4

Awards

Best Combo Scout: catfish (14), tetrx (11), DANTE (9),
Best Flank Scout: yourstruly (13), monti (13), corn (6),
Best Pocket Soldier: emgee (11), brownie (10), doctrine (10), aly (4),
Best Roaming Soldier: mashiro (14), freaky (8), sphilliz (5),
Best Demoman: honk honk (12), poisy (9), wirthy (5), Pengstah (5),
Best Medic: ziah (13), monolith (10), bobo (4), chili (4), jdn (4),
Best Utility: brownie (7), corn (6), sphilliz (4),

Most Improved Player: ziah (11), monolith (11), DANTE (11), jdn (6), gunwrong (2),
Most Valuable Player: honk honk (6), DANTE (5), world's blankiest blank (5), mashiro (4),
Most Improved Team: Terrible Tactics (11), Birnd Out (10), blank's salt free burgers (7),
Friendliest Team: Terrible Tactics (14), never home (9), yellow rat (4), tranquil harmonious balanced gaming (4),
Best Dressed Team: blank's salt free burgers (7), never home (7), willys angels (6), terrible tactics (6), yellow rat (5),

Best Caster: freaky (13), snazzy (9), swaysway (6), ghost (6),



(Graphic by dezi)

Congratulations Inter winners tempknock!

Placements

- tempknock
- 50 million power level
- Shohoku Reborn
- lana del rey fan club

Grand Final Map Scores

Match

Bronze Final Map Scores

Match

  • Clearcut: 3 - 0
  • Process: 5 - 0

Awards

Best Combo Scout: mean bug (12), wilson brown (7), quay (5),
Best Flank Scout: crypto (11), astral (7), AJ (5), Melt (5),
Best Pocket Soldier: chonk (14), NeoFusion (6), Spealot (5),
Best Roaming Soldier: funGus (11), Zando (10), x32 (5),
Best Demoman: Cab (11), Glitchy (5), Revan (5), qwert (5), lemons (4),
Best Medic: eden (8), 2345y. (7), Cam (7), 24/7 listening to music (4),
Best Utility: rain (9), crypto (8), ♪.Beats (5),

Most Improved Player: eden (10), x32 (8), qwert (6),
Most Valuable Player: Cab (6), chonk (5), Glitchy (4),
Most Improved Team: DLLM (6), Shrimps (6), 50 million power level (5), lana del ray fan club (5), tempknock (5), 06's (4),
Friendliest Team: tempknock (10), 50 million power level (7), DLLM (4), shrimps (4), 06's (4), the 90s (4)
Best Dressed Team: 50 million power level (9), tempknock (6), Shohoku Reborn (6), dllm (5),

Best Caster: Ghost (10), freaky (9), SwaySway (4),



(Graphic by dezi)

Congratulations Main winners susu mark henry!

Placements

- susu mark henry
- Those Who Snow
- Succulent Chinese Meal (SCM)
- Blackboard Ballistics

Grand Final Map Scores

Match

  • Process: 5 - 2
  • Gullywash: 4 - 2
  • Metalworks: 0 - 0
Bronze Final Map Scores

Match

Awards

Best Combo Scout: durc (13), dezi (8), reeee.vol 2 (6), davã© (6), manglemonser (6),
Best Flank Scout: 17 (11), krb (10), bustachime (10),
Best Pocket Soldier: broccoli (14), luggnuts (13), seiran (7), ,
Best Roaming Soldier: schnapps (14), zoek (10), cymboll (10),
Best Demoman: cbpop (11), terrybel (11), arbabf (8),
Best Medic: april (10), kiyo (9), anml (9),
Best Utility: seiran (12), jun (8), monstergunner0v0 (8), zoek (8),

Most Improved Player: cbpop (13), chiddy (10), sarc (5), romlyn (5), alivesinceforever (5),
Most Valuable Player: durc (9), orange circle (3), yuzu (3), alivesinceforever (3), cbpop (3), klebs (3), terrybel (3),
Most Improved Team: succulent chinese meal (13), talking tom and friends (7), susu mark henry (6),
Friendliest Team: talking tom and friends (13), succulent chinese meal (10), blackboard ballistics (7),
Best Dressed Team: talking tom and friends (14), just chaps (8), blackboard ballistics (8),

Best Caster: freaky (12), SwaySway (11), lilibit (7),



(Graphic by dezi)

Congratulations Open winners 6 Reasons Not To Play TF2!

Placements

- 6 Reasons Not To Play TF2
- funny people
- DJ DJ pump this party
- THE HUNGRY SIX

Grand Final Map Scores

Match

Bronze Final Map Scores

Match

Awards

Best Combo Scout: Wess (10), Sammy (9), Juna (7), Eat ham (6)
Best Flank Scout: Lilibit (13), newspice (8), Spoon (8), Dede (3)
Best Pocket Soldier: Midside (12), Hobby_sr (8), Dight (7)
Best Roaming Soldier: Gregory (10), Whitefang2360 (7), DJ dj (7), Wodah (5)
Best Demoman: Swaysway (13), Juliangonzales2009 (7), Auroraechoes (6)
Best Medic: Peteydog (12), Frosted (9), Saiiiiiiiissy (3)
Best Utility: Rill (12), Dede (6), Sammy (5), bad (5)

Most Improved Player: Gregory (12), Eat ham (7), Dpoon (6)
Most Valuable Player: Juliangonzales2009 (6), Wess (6), Juna (5), Eat ham (5), Sammy (4)
Most Improved Team: funny people (10), 6 reasons not to play tf2 (7), THE HUNGRY SIX (6)
Friendliest Team: 6 reasons not to play tf2 (9), DJ DJ pump this party (7), funny people (5), Cognitive virgins (5)
Best Dressed Team: 6 reasons not to play tf2 (11), funny people (5), THE HUNGRY SIX (5), DJ DJ pump this party (3)

Best Caster: Swaysway (9), Lilibit (8), Freaky (5), Ghost (4), Snazzy (1)




Changes are coming prior to the start of the Winter '25 Season of competition. Let's talk about it!

Roster Shrinkage

Going into our Winter '25 seasons, we intend to shrink roster sizes. We know this seems scary, but don't worry, we are here to walk you through it. After lengthy internal discussion, we aim to change roster sizes by the following amounts:

Sixes: From 10 Players to 8 Players
Highlander: From 15 Players to 12 Players

We believe that shrinking rosters to the sizes listed above will encourage improved competition and potentially allow for the creation of more teams to compete within our seasonal leagues. We believe this is more than reasonable considering the current 'Mercenary Culture' that we find ourselves in, where a majority of teams playing in seasonal competitions opt to use a mercenary closer in skill level to the absent core player, as opposed to a substitute who may not be up to the same standards.

For these reasons, amongst others, we feel we have a strong case for reducing roster sizes. However, we welcome the community to send us feedback, we even encourage it. This is a huge change and directly conflicts with our past initiatives to improve roster and scene health. We get that. So, we want to hear from you, via a support ticket from our Discord or via our General Feedback Forms if you have feedback, an issue that needs to be brought to our attention regarding this approach, anything!


Global Ruleset Changes & Doc Updates

Rule changes have not been added to the ozfortress docs at the time of the post being released, but will be soon.

  • Combining 1.3.2. Upper Division Playoffs Stopwatch & 1.3.3. Lower Division Playoffs Stopwatch to now be 1.3.2 Playoffs Stopwatch, which reflects the same set of rules for all divisions of Highlander during Playoffs.
  • Expanded the wording around 2.4.1. BO3 Playoff Matches (Sixes) & 2.4.2. BO5 Playoff Matches (Sixes) to elaborate on pick deferring and its use in Sixes Playoffs.
  • Players who are transferred out as an 5.4. Emergency Transfers can not be transferred back into the roster for the remainder of the season.
  • 6.2. Mercenary Approval will now specify that teams are not to engage in 'Mercenary Bargaining' of any kind. Additionally, if teams have already approved a Mercenary, they are not permitted to unapprove that same Merc. Only Administrators have the ability to revoke an approval on a Mercenary.
  • Roles have been modified in the 7.2. Team Captain Discord, which now prevents unnecessary spamming of GIFS and unrelated media within the Discord. Consistently posting unrelated materials and messages in this Discord can result in removal and further league-related repercussions.
  • The 8.5.1. Live Coaching rule now describes and reflects that all forms of coaching during an active match are prohibited, including messages received over chat services such as Steam, Discord or Twitch. Cases of coaching are to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Coaching is permitted during scrims, before/after matches and between maps.
  • The 8.8.1 Pause Limits rule has been changed to '1 pause per team, per map that is played'. This means in regular season matches that play 2 maps, 2 pauses will be available to be used at any time. Whereas in playoffs, 3 to 5 pauses may be used across the match per team.
  • The following game modifications will be listed as allowed under 12.1.1. Game Modification:
    • Medic Radar and any scripts related to it are permitted.
  • The following game modifications or exploits are prohibited under 12.1.2. Game Mechanic Exploits:
    • Rocket Trail scripts that modify rocket trails.
    • Engineer stored multiple melee critical hit.
    • Heavy lunch box items health exploits
  • A small guide that will provide players instructions on what to do when an active match's server dies with a Match Restart/ Continuation Procedure.
  • Round Bans won't be moved around upon the players request. Round bans are now applied immediately once decided upon. If a player is given a round ban and they are set to play in a scheduled match within 48 hours, they will be permitted to play, and the ban will begin at the start of the subsequent round.

Penalty System Overhaul

Since introducing the Penalty System last year, we've noticed both benefits and hindrances. Firstly, having concrete procedures in place to guide teams on how to conduct themselves and punish those who neglect their responsibilities has helped see a reduction in banned players and overall infractions. However, with the current system in place, some teams still don't take the penalties applied seriously.

After internal deliberation and discussion amongst staff, the following changes have been made to the Penalty System:

Team Penalties:

  • Teams will no longer receive warnings; all breaches will now result in a minor, moderate or major penalty.
  • 2 Minor penalties are equivalent to 1 Moderate Penalty.
  • 2 Moderate penalties are equivalent to 1 Major Penalty.
  • 2 Major penalties will now result in a team's disbandment.
  • Major penalties will no longer deduct points from teams who incur them.

Player Penalties

  • Warnings will be kept for some Player Penalties.

In addition to the general changes listed above, all penalties have been looked at and modified. As well as this, new penalties have also been added for rules that previously didn't have any direct ruling associated with them. You can view the new Penalty System as well as individual penalties and rules in a Google spreadsheet linked here until they have been applied to the online ozfortress docs.


We'll be making a follow-up post before the beginning of the Winter '25 seasons, outlining where we stand on Roster Shrinkage after getting additional feedback from the community, as well as other changes, such as Staff Changes, so stay tuned!