After 7 years, a forgotten Team Fortress 2 taunt is in the spotlight as the ultimate meme expression of FPS dominance: "You either Yeti cancel or the Yeti cancels you"

Sorry, I don't make the rules, but Team Fortress 2 is now all about Yeti canceling. It's either a forbidden technique that FPS masters are using as a display of absolute dominance or the community meme of the moment, and either way it's absolutely bewildering every lapsed TF2 player who comes across it.

"Yeti canceling is no mere taunt cancel," according to Erk, who has now penned the ultimate expression of the Yeti cancel in the form of a YouTube video. "It is an expression of untamed dominance - a gorilla-esque display of raw, unyielding power in a match where chaos reigns supreme - where one stops between either the beginning to the end of combat to summon their inner beast: a Yeti that erupts from their very soul, smashing into the ground with primal fury. It is a moment of pure grandeur, an orchestration of terror, and an amalgamation of dominance."

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The Yeti cancel is… well, contrary to Erk's flowery sentiment, it's a taunt cancel. You bind a taunt to a keyboard key, start the animation, and then take some damage, typically through the splash damage of a weapon like that of the Soldier or Demoman. Damage knocks you out of the taunt animation and back into normal gameplay - hence it's a "taunt cancel." The Yeti cancel just means you're doing a cancel with the Yeti Smash taunt, which was introduced back in 2017 as part of the Jungle Inferno update.

So what does the Yeti cancel actually do to benefit those who perform it? Uh, nothing. The Yeti Smash is somewhat unique among other taunts in that it actually turns your character into a different creature briefly, so you might briefly confuse whoever you're facing as you turn into a big ol' Yeti for a split second. Is that a competitive advantage? I don't know. But I do know that it's really funny. As Erk explains: "You either Yeti cancel or the Yeti cancels you."

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