i typically go with a demoman for general use. Due to his mobility, like the soldier he can be found almost anywhere. He fulfills a similar role as a Sniper disguise, where you hover in one place and pretend to be waiting to detonate your stickies (nobody is going to actually look around and see whether or not you HAVE planted stickies), but you also won't seem suspicious for being closer to the frontline.

The soundsmith reference out of nowhere made my whole day. (Soundsmith, if you see this, please don't do more stereotypes videos they are very good, but I can feel the wear in the voicework and burnout is scary)

I would have appreciated a bit more discussion of the implications of your removal picks. For one, no Engineers means no buildings, making death both more frequent (no sentries to back you up, no dispensers) and more punishing (no teleporters). You'd also be removing Scout's number 1 counter, making Scout a much more oppressive force than he was already. This also raises the question of what spy's sapper is for anymore - I suppose it would just be removed. The removal of engineer, pyro and demoman severely impacts the roster's defensive capability - it would fall mainly to heavies to hold down an area, and scouts and soldiers to watch the flanks. The removal of pyro also makes spy a lot more threatening. The removal of snipers is interesting, as it would leave the game in an almost entirely close to mid range state, with a few exceptions like Direct Hit soldiers. I think overall your hypothetical changes would greatly favour the attacking team in attack/defense and payload modes. To keep the game balanced between the two would require major revisions to the maps, to the remaining classes, or both.

I think in terms of positioning and strength, pyro is the only true generalist class, so him being a generalist disguise makes sense too.

Remove: Sniper, Heavy, Engineer, Medic Keep: Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demo, Spy Why remove: Sniper - obvious Heavy - Most people find him boring. Heavy stacking is op. Medic - A lot of people find him boring to play. Op - is always the most valuable target - not a fun game dynamic. Annoying to play against. Engineer - Since there is no medic/ubercharge, engineer stacking would be op. Why keep: Soldier - Generalist. Fun class. Rocketjumps. Well rounded and designed class Spy - Spy is such a fun and unique class. Only in TF2 you get this experience. Isn't at all op. Creates in my opinion a fun dynamic, where you don't only shoot the enemies and look forward, but have to spycheck and watch your back. Scout - Fun to play. Since I removed heavy, engineer and sniper, he is the only one with a reliable hitscan now. Keeps other classes in check. Demo and Pyro - Other classes took priority in the removing process. Airblast creates (imo) a fun dynamic for explosive classes. It's also better to remove niche specialist classes like medic or engi (or even spy, but he has other reasons to stay) and keep more general damaging classes. If we removed the classes in the video (Sniper, Engineer, Demoman, Pyro), the available classes would be: Scout, Soldier, Heavy, Medic, Spy I think it would be a heavy medic spamfest. There are no demomen or snipers to keep heavy in check. No Engineers to stop the momentum from heavy stacking. No snipers to keep medics in check. Scout, if he's lucky, can at best kill a medic while dying in the process. Spy can also only get a few picks here and there. Soldier doesn't have enough damage in his 4 rockets to even kill one overhealed heavy. Generally I don't think these 5 classes bounce off each other that well.

Thank you mumbo jumbo