i was thinking more along the lines of hoony mode/tennis mode:
fraglimit 1
timelimit 0 (unlimited)
basically you play to the first-frag, and repeat this 5 or 7 times, (best of 3 or 4 points or whatever). best thing about this (imho) is it eliminates spawn fragging and makes you play very tactically and "mind games" because every frag counts (literally)

During warmup, two spawnpoints are chosen by the players. One will typically be a "stronger" spawn and the other "weaker". When the game begins, these are where the players will spawn, with the strong spawn considered the equivalent of having the "serve".

Each player death (regardless of source, i.e. a suicide is considered a kill for the opponent) is treated as a distinct point. After a point is scored, play does not continue as in DM: instead, the players and the arena are reset, and a new point is contested for. Players switch spawnpoints at this time, so the player who had the weak spawn for the previous point now has the strong one, effecting a change of serve. Players are given a few seconds between points to reconsider strategies etc.

Games are played to a point limit, with the clock not being a factor. A player must reach that limit and be at least two points clear of his opponent to win, i.e. in a 5-point game, 5-4 is a lead not a win: the player still needs another point to clinch it.

The idea was to listen to pro players and hear if they can think of anything that can get improved.

I really would welcome a Teamplay mod like FREEZE. People may know it from q3. The goal is to completly freeze the opposite team. Therefor you have to frag this one. But your teammates are able to unfreeze each other by just stay beside you for like 3 sec. Believe me that can be real fun.

Then an other FFA mod i remember is "catch the chicken". There is a chicken running on the map and you have to pick it up and hold it as long as you can. The Quaker that had the chicken for the longest time is the winner at the end. While you have this chicken you are unable to shoot but your running speed is doubled. Enemys can steal the chicken by fragging you.

nerf shaft!
its just too good with todays clients+precision.
2 years ago there were some LG specialists like inter etc but nowadays everyone has a good shaft and imo the whole 1on1-mode has turned into a huge lg-aim-fest and definately less fun! ofc people will say now that qw lives off its weapons imbalance and shaft was always the most powerful weapon but i really think that it has gone too far.
just play a few dm4/6s without LG and you will notice how much the gameplay changes. i tried that last week and we had ALOT more fun during those games.
and YES , im frustrated cause i get owned by good shafters alot!