With the action at EPIC.LAN 42 starting tomorrow, who better to share their predictions than the voices of the event? We’ve got the casters Tim “TIMMO” Musters, Harry “index” Bayliss, Orson “SeveralSheep” Schuijers, Izaac “Spectrion” Bailey, and host Leyna “Affinity” McQuillin to share who they think are the tournament favourites, and who could end up being a strong underdog.
Harry “index” Bayliss
“For my winners, I’ve got VERDANT. They’ve been on a pretty massive upswing since adding Diviiii. Matas [Extinct] returning gives them another rock-solid rifler and now Tom [arTisT] has had some time to get used to being a full-time rifler I can see them popping off.
Invictum is my underdog pick. Lorenzo LTH is well established as an upset merchant fully capable of taking teams on deep runs. This iteration of the line-up seems like it will be a lot more emotionally stable, wfn and PrimeOPI bring a wealth of experience AND they have my favourite American on the lineup in Magic_KS as well.
Also, I’ve got my eye on TLR, as I know fett1s has some great tools at his disposal (he’s a stratbox user btw) and MMS is a strong choice for a stand-in.”
TIMMO (left) – index (right)
Tim “TIMMO” Musters
“I think Verdant will win because we’ll see arTisT go full Tom Cruise this LAN after finalising settling into rifling again. (Probably a Diviii carry tbh)… They also have the #1 analyst in the world (me).
The underdogs are the invictum lineup with wfn and Prime has some huge firepower upgrades. LTH has always been able to make good upset runs at EPICs due to preparation with much weaker teams than this.
Belfast Storm is also worth mentioning. A team that is very rough around the edges but have some high ceilings on nem and Dexie on a line-up that has played together for a while and hunger for a LAN environment”
Orson “SeveralSheep” Schuijers
“Verdant, with smooya now at ITB and with that The Neighbours are not here to terrorise the playoff bracket. I think the red carpet is out for the boys from Verdant to take the trophy. arTisT has had five finals, four victories. For the first time since his finals loss against Coalesce at 38, I have a feeling he is going to be quite hungry for his fifth!
For underdogs, DreamsToLegends has yz0, Tr0uto and Stop_it joining two improving youngsters. Three guys with a lot of experience at EPIC.LAN, all the way to the Sunday mornings and afternoons. Recent success has not really been there. It’s a good chance at a bounce back and for s0ra and Neo to get their first-ever taste of EPIC playoffs!
Photo Credit: @Sophie_skittle
Izaac “Spectrion” Bailey
“Verdant to win. TLR, Invictum etc roster changes mean there’s not a crazy amount of competition left.
For underdogs I’m gonna be biased and say hedgehogpeek. KicA has a knack for deep runs in recent memory and the ex-TLR IGL sounds like the start of a very funny team.”
Spectrion (Left) – Photo credit: @theskiesbg
Leyna “Affinity” McQuillin
“Verdant seems like an outright favourite to win, in my opinion. They’ve been competing at a higher level generally, especially with the sorts of tournaments they’ve been participants in. There have been roster changes recently but the current line-up seems to be finding their feet well and looking really strong.
As for underdogs, TLR are always a solid shout. Again, another team that’s had some player shuffling going on but the core remains sturdy and given the lack of as much strong opposition I think they should be sure to fire shoe-ins for top 4. I also would be keeping an eye on Lizards, I think they’ve got some good players and shouldn’t be counted out early.”
Photo credit: @Sophie_skittle
You’ve heard it here first, the experts unanimously agree that Verdant are the outright favourites. Underdogs range bounce between TLR, Invictum and Belfast Storm. However, within the walls of the Kettering Conference centre, anything is possible.
If you think you have differing opinions, share with us your predictions on X at @UKCSGO!
