UKIC season 5 Division 1 began last week with four matches going ahead. Seven teams have now competed in this opening week of play with Glitchtech getting off to a flying start being the only team to play twice, dropping 8 rounds across both games combined.
Glitchtech get started on the right foot
Glitchtech saw off two of their competitors comfortably to open their UKIC campaign. Viperio Academy was the first team to challenge Glitchtech, this match, the first of the whole season, wasn’t competitive. Glitchtech comfortably shut down Viperio Academy’s T side, striding to a 10-2 half. Only dropping the singular round in the second half Glitchtech wrapped up the season debut with a 13-3 victory.
The second match Glitchtech played was two days later, on February 6th. Technically more competitive than their last match, the 13-5 scoreline still demonstrates Glitchtech’s dominance, as the newly changed Antarctica couldn’t find its footing on Ancient. Glitchtech demonstrated their ability to lock down their CT side for the second time, ending the half at 9-3. Notably, the newly added Marco “MMS” Salomone put up a strong 18 kills to 8 deaths performance.
MMS, Now playing for Glitchtech, Playing for Raptors at ESL Premiership autumn 2023
That being said as mentioned in the preview article, Antarctica will be forced to play out the first four games with Alex “Byfield” Byfield instead of Fizan “Fizzy” Anjum due to Fizzy not being part of the core from season 4. Antarctica will be hoping to change their fortune after their opening loss when Fizzy joins the team later in the season.
Belfast Storm gets things done Reasonably quickly
Belfast Storm faced off against the newly formed Reason roster that qualified from the second division of UKIC Season 4. Reason is another roster forced to play with players from last season as their core coming into Season 5. James “Flicky” Errington sat on the sidelines Ben “RezzeD” Bignall took to the server to attempt to fend off the oncoming storm. Perhaps this lack of a full roster cost Reason as they fell 13-7 to Belfast Storm, a team that had also made a roster change.
8sins fall to incomplete Royalty
Royals field two rosters: one main roster that competes in everything except UKIC, which is not majority UK, and one explicitly for UKIC. As a consequence, the UKIC roster is effectively a roster with two stand-ins. This did not deter Edgaras “entz” Luksas and Oskar “oskvr” Myszka, the two players that Royals are using as stand-ins for this season of UKIC.
8Sins made two roster changes, John ‘Dutchy‘ Holland and Andrew ‘Wolfie‘ Allan came in for Petar “coldpera” Pavlovic and Alex “f0cus” James. However, these new additions may need more time to gel with the core as they fall in an exciting 24-round affair, 13-11 to Royals.
.@UKICircuit hopefuls, @8SinsEsports lose their debut game!@Royals_EC playing with two standins upset them 13-11 on Anubis. Helps that @waZzCS2's deagle is on fire🔥 pic.twitter.com/Ld07runz4t
— UKCSGO (@ukcsgo) February 5, 2025
What to expect in week two
This week and the next will be crucial for all teams competing in UKIC all teams will want to be peaking in form as this is the penultimate week before UKCS’ prestigious EPIC.LAN 44 is set to take place. Under-performances here will not fill teams with confidence before they grace the halls of the Kettering Conference Centre.
Coming up this week we see tournament favourites ALASKA play their first match versus The Last Resort, also playing their opening game. There will be a clash of titans as two tournament hopefuls in 8Sins and Belfast Storm will do battle. Glitchtech are set to double up and hopes to extend their winning streak by playing back-to-back games on Thursday versus TLR and ALASKA. These games are subject to change
