The first European team to sign up for EPIC.LAN 45, Preasy, announced on July 8th that they will be putting their CS2 roster on pause as they need “to take the time needed to evaluate their future direction”.
As the Danish organisation puts proceedings on hold for the time being, Sander “qx” Thomas and Thomas “SinK” Laursen will continue their contract in AaB. Preasy cites the “move will allow them to stay active and continue their development in a strong and structured environment.”
On the same day, AaB announced their new roster featuring more ex-Preasy players, Jonas “Boye” Boye Østergaard, and Viktor “Viggo” Simonsen alongside Mark “stesso” Sørensen. This meant that with qx and SinK, AaB inherited Preasy’s VRS points.
Unfortunately, it is not exactly the highest rank as they currently sit 225th in the world and 126th on the Valve Ranking System.
With this roster move and Preasy taking a step back from Counter-Strike, the EPIC.LAN 45 spot was also shifted across to the current AaB roster.
The reason for this is that on June 26, the two Danish organisations announced they were joining forces as strategic partners. UKCSGO can confirm that this team swap was due to the strategic partnership.
This partnership was aimed at strengthening the Danish esports ecosystem and building a community capable of competing at the highest international level in Counter-Strike.
So far, this new AaB roster has made a deep run in the ESL Pro League Season 22 Europe Open Qualifier, only losing out in the final game to Hesta. Alongside this, they have competed in the unranked United21 League Season 34, placing 5th-6th after losing to Owen “smooya” Butterfield on fish123.
As previously mentioned, AaB have a very low VRS ranking in Europe and are therefore way outside the threshold for Tier-2 tournament invites. Therefore, there is a big importance for them to succeed in Kettering as they search for a boost to their current standing.
Preasy was the first team to originally sign up, but they were not the last. Following in their footsteps, Iberian Soul, The Last Resort, FUT, Alliance, and Glitchtech are set to make the trip to Kettering for EPIC.LAN 45.
