State of the Comp—February 2014

2014 has been fast and furious for the Battlefield America Competition Battalion (BF 7). As a refresher, BF 7 is the first competition team that is its own battalion within TAW. Historically, competition teams have been an extension of an existing battalion, which has made it difficult for competition players to dedicate the time needed for competitive play since battalion events take precedence. For the Battlefield 4 (BF4) division, BF 7 was formed to compile the most skilled players into a single battalion so they could benefit from the traditional TAW leadership structure; thus, eliminating the requirement to play in regular battalion events.

With no shortage of games to play in, BF 7 has boasted an 19-11 overall win-loss record since November 2013. In addition to playing in matches, BF 7 also holds twice-a-week mandatory practices.¹ To mitigate the amount of time a member has to commit to an average of two to three matches per week, the BF 7 staff has divided the battalion into two squads for 5 vs. 5 matches,² which has essentially allowed squads to rotate between matches. These two squads are unambitiously named "Primary Squad" and "Secondary "Squad;" the squads were initially separated by skill, but staff further determined that they should be balanced in order to give each squad the best chance to win for any given match.

Because each squad consists of more than five players, who plays in a given match depends on a variety of elements, such as availability, matchups, skill, leadership and/or if a certain player hasn't gotten as much playing time as others. Up to this point, staff has been determining who plays, but squad- and game-specific decisions will be transitioned to Squad Leaders (SLs) in order to lessen the workload on staff and to promote leadership development within the battalion, like any other battalion in TAW would.

While BF 7 has enjoyed much success, DoctorKajita, CO of BF 7, says that "there is still a lot of work to do to be recognized as a top-tier competitive team within the Battlefield community, and more importantly, as a fully viable model for future competitive battalions in TAW." One of the biggest challenges for BF 7 has been filling out their roster with players that fall into the three basic criteria they evaluate by: attendance, character and skill; their goal is to reach 20 - 25 members with these attributes, which would allow them to comfortably practice 10 vs. 10 Conquest matches. Currently, the roster size sits at 16.

With such a small roster size, each member within BF 7 plays a critical role, mainly because there are so many events in a given week (i.e., attendance, attendance, attendance). Mercenary, XO of BF 7 says that "it's no shame to be awarded a forfeit win because of the amount of backend planning and organization that happens leading up to a match. When the other team's player don't show up, it reinforces the fact that what we're doing is the best way to run a competition team; we hold players accountable but allow them to have fun and thrive through the traditional TAW battalion structure."

RazorEdge, SO of BF 7, added that "the comp team is continually evolving and discrepancies in our process are continually being addressed in order to give the members a fulfilling gaming experience." While they take their gaming seriously, BF 7 staff implores their members not to be vain. Slamscape, TS of BF 7, said "I'm really proud of our members for not taking the bait from other clans' trash talk. We've been beaten in consecutive games by some clans who think they're number one, but we always take the highroad, try to learn from our mistakes and apply them in the next game. Because of this, we have never lost three matches in a row to the same team. We trust our system."

¹ Mandatory practices are often replaced by a scheduled match.

² For 10 vs. 10 matches, all BF 7 members are required to attend.

For more information on BF 7, please visit the following links:

• How to Apply to the Battlefield America Competition Battalion
• Calendar of Events, Upcoming Dates and Match Results