It’s that time of year again. The gentle sea breeze... digging holes in the sand... seagulls flying above, looking for the best time to steal an entire hotdog right out of your hands... Sounds nice doesn’t it? Well there’s no time for relaxing now, Soldier! Gray Mann’s army is back with a vengeance, and thousands of robotic abominations are storming across those very beaches as we speak. It’s time to get out there and fight unless you want this to be the last summer you'll ever get! Gray Mann is coming for a lot more than your hotdogs and if you don’t fight back hard and fast, there won’t be any more hotdogs left for those flying beach rats to take...

Operation Bolted Barbecue is a new Mann vs. Machine charity event brought to you by Potato MvM! Complete over 50 missions across new and returning maps! Complete at least 10 missions to receive an in-game medal! Event servers are available across the world. Click here to get started!

Feeling generous? Potato.TF is also hosting a charity fundraiser supporting Direct Relief! Donate as little as $5 to receive an in-game medal! Have the link to your Steam profile ready and click here for more information.

Destroy those robots while you can! The event will run until October 15th, 2025.

Important Links:

• Event Website
• Discord
• Steam Group

Thirteen years ago, we launched Mann vs. Machine, a chilling cautionary tale where an artificial consciousness tried to take all our jobs. You didn't know it back then, but that was actually a literary device called "speculative" fiction, where writers (us) accurately predict the future (the present), but then hide it so as not to cause widespread panic.

In an effort to keep panic levels low, and apropos of nothing, we'd like to tell you a story: Once upon a time, a Mann vs. Machine mode in a video game was getting a much-needed update. And so a brave blog post writer (us again) asked the community to submit Mann vs. Machine maps and missions in time for that update. (For the sake of this panic-reducing speculative fantasy, let's put the fictional deadline at Wednesday, August 27th).

If that was the entire story, you'd already be at a low panic level but vaguely concerned about a looming dystopian future (mission accomplished). But as is traditional in the genre of speculative blog fiction, there's more! The king of the fictional land where this all happened (ancient Greece), decreed on stone tablets that even though the update was dropping right around the ancient Greek candy-harvest festival of Halloween, the maps did not need to all be Halloween-themed (first tablet) and in fact shouldn't be (second tablet).

"Though some of them COULD be," the king carved into a third tablet, held in the stone hands of a statue... of PRIMATE GEORGE WASHINGTON? No! It's just regular George Washington in a dystopian future past where our sculptors are NOT AS GOOD AS IN ANCIENT GREECE! What an ending! (The end.)

Is this tale a simple flight of gripping, well-written fancy? (No.) Or a chilling glimpse into a future that could arrive as soon as, again, Wednesday, August 27th with a second part arriving right before Halloween? (Yes, see paragraph one.)

AsiaFortress Liquid.tf is excited to announce its first-ever 6v6 Gibus Cup, which is a competitive TF2 tournament tailored for newcomers in the Asian region. If you're new to competitive TF2 and want to give it a try, this is the perfect place to start!

Signups are for individuals, and you will be put on a team with a dedicated coach.
Participants who play all their games will also receive an in-game medal.

This event is being hosted in loving memory of Moonchild and jR who loved Team Fortress 2 and were long-time members of their community.

Join their Discord for more information and to sign up!

Important Links:

• Twitch
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Discord
• Asiafortress

After a year break, TFArena is back hosting its first ever non-Arena mode event! This time they'll be running 6v6 with a twist! Many long standing weapons have been unbanned, and a unique version of cp_steel will be introduced!

Teams have until June 12th to sign-up, with the event taking place June 14th-15th. Teams from NA, EU, and SA are all welcome to join regardless of skill level!

You can sign up on the TFArena website or visit their Discord server for more information!

AsiaFortress Liquid.tf is back with its Spring 6s finals!

Catch the finals action on their closest season yet! Tune in live on:
24th of May 9pm SGT / 2pm CET
25th of May 8pm SGT / 1pm CET

Important Links:

• Twitch
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Discord
• Asiafortress

• Fixed some players not being able to start Friends Only servers

• Re-enabled all players to be able to use voice commands and party chat
• Added more detailed options for server visibility and privacy when creating a server
  • The "Use Steam Networking" checkbox has been replaced with a dropdown, allowing the creation of Local, Friends Only, Unlisted and Listed servers -- defaulting to Unlisted
  • Using map command by default will no longer create a join-able game
• Fixed a crash on exit under Linux

• Fixed HUD scope animation exploit (GitHub fix from mastercoms)
• Fixed case where the door model for Match Status HUD wasn't initialized before setting the submodel (GitHub fix from rabscootle)
• Fixed money not automatically being collected in Mann vs. Machine respawn rooms (GitHub fix from mastercoms)
• Fixed stuck Mann vs. Machine bots sometimes causing spawn softlocks (GitHub fix from Mentrillum)
• Fixed Mann vs. Machine ammo canteens not affecting energy weapons (GitHub fix from Mentrillum)
• Fixed 'Shell Extension' achiemevent not working for energy weapons (GitHub fix from Mentrillum)
• Fixed not being able to deploy parachute after landing and becoming airborne without jump button (GitHub fix from FlaminSarge)
• Fixed some heap allocated KeyValues leaks (GitHub fix from Dmitry Tsarevich)
• Relaxed in-game chat restrictions for certain accounts

Welcome to Denver for Physgun Fireside Denver 2025! For the first time since 2018, intercontinental competition is returning to North America! The best of Europe and Oceania are coming to the U.S. to compete for the title of the best in the world!

This event sees sixteen teams competing across two distinct tournaments across three days of nonstop action for their share of the $3,500+ prize pool!

In the Invitational, eight of the top teams in the world will fight it out in a two-stage tournament, culminating in a best-of-five grand final for the lion’s share of $2,500+ and the bragging rights of winning 2025’s only global competition. Concurrently, eight more teams will be competing to be best-of-the-rest, all for the grand prize of $1,000.

The event takes place live in Denver, CO, USA, running from 24-26 May, starting at 11:15am MDT (7:15pm CEST | 3:15am AEST) on Saturday and 11am MDT (7pm CEST | 3am AEST) the following days. Coverage of the event will be live every day from Denver on Fireside Casts’ Twitch, and tickets to watch in-person are available for purchase online and at the door!

Important Links:

• Liquipedia
• Twitch
• Discord
• YouTube
• Bluesky

MGE.tf is announcing Season 1 of 2v2 MGE League in Europe! MGE (My Gaming Edge) is the training grounds for mastering Scout, Soldier and Demoman in intense deathmatch-style duels.

With over €1000 up for grabs, multiple skill divisions, and an 8-week regular season followed by playoffs, competitors will battle for glory and the undisputed title of MGE LORD.

Signups are open May 3 - May 24.

Important Links:

• Signups
• Discord
• YouTube