The latest amppis-led project team, ComedyShortsGaming was created last season as a long term project, with the goal of steadily improving and staying together for as long as possible. After a reasonable first season performance, where they looked solid and made playoffs but weren’t able to reach beyond 4th place, the departures of Nicky and Charlie have rocked the boat a little, but two quality replacements were eventually found.

Replacing Nicky (who switched allegiances to tf2easy) is Loopy. While replacing Nicky is no tall task, Loopy will be eager to try and step up. A relentless flanker with quite the mechanical talent, Loopy has already spent time in Prem with Vibrams, and did also win Division 1 on two separate occasions. With Charlie electing to go on hiatus due to a lack of enjoyment in the game and some friction within the team, CSG were left scrambling for a Pocket Soldier and ended up with Thaigrr. While team leader amppis admitted Thaigrr was mainly a stopgap signing on the latest Fully Charged, they also added that Thaigrr’s style of Pocket fits perfectly with their own aggression. The other half of the soldier duo is still haunts, who will surely have fun with Loopy in the now 100%-zoomer flank. Condawg and amppis also return on Medic and Pocket Scout, after experimentation with amppis on Soldier during the off-season failed to yield good results. Both of them will be eager to combine once again, whether with torpedo Pocket Scout ubers or the now famous Kritz Brass Beast defense. Fancy on Demoman was the revelation of the last playoffs, with the pipe demon having a very honorable performance against The League Of Shadows before mercing for them in the Lower Bracket Final and being a big part of the win against tf2easy.

We caught up with amppis who gave a candid insight into the team:

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: This season seems really stacked with a lot of talented fighting for the top 4 spots. Does that increase pressure on you or on the contrary would you find it easier to accept it if you missed playoffs?

This season is going to be crazy competitive and the pressure is definitely there just like it was last season. I think we are better equipped to handle it now and there is no world in which we would be okay with not making playoffs.

It wont be easy but with the players we have and the skill level we know we are capable of reaching, anything short of playoffs would mean we haven't played up to anywhere near our full potential.

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: With Loopy now on your team alongside Fancy and Haunts, you now have three players that started playing the game as you were already a top Premiership player. How do you feel about the kids ? Any generational divide you spotted?

It's funny to me being called a boomer by these guys as I was once by far the youngest player on my first prem team with zebbo. Its really crazy if you look at someone like fancy and how good he is considering he is almost a decade younger than me.

It is exciting to see how good some of these young players will become as time goes on. I'm very happy to be playing with players like that instead of more boomers like myself and condawg.

I already think fancy is up there with the best, and he has played just two seasons in prem. Haunts had his debut last season, and he continues to improve every day too. Their full potential is far from being reached, and that is the most exciting thing about this team for me.

TEAMFORTRESS.TV: Do you think your team has a specific playstyle? If no, are you currently trying to develop one or do you think that it is not important?

I've recently tried to have an honest look at the playstyle we have developed and how much of that is dysfunctional. As I'm doing most of the calling there is responsibility on me to not get stuck in certain ways of doing things or on these ideals of how I think the game should be played.

In the future I want us to have more stability. I want us to be more calcuating and less reliant on these chaos fights and taking gambles that we can't consistently come out of on top. For us to reach the goals we have, I need to rethink my approach.

It is not easy to admit that there is fundamental flaws in my maincalling and decision making in the game, and the change won't be instant nor easy. In the long run this team needs me to change and adapt. However hard that change may be, it is a necessary one.

• Pocket Scout: amppis
• Flank Scout: Loopy
• Roamer: haunts
• Pocket: Thaigrr
• Demoman: Fancy
• Medic: Condawg