Just over a month ago, UK CS titans were felled, as dripmen beat Max in the UKIC Season 7 Masters LAN Finals 3-1.
This marked the first time since 2023 that the core of Mason “Vacancy” Haines, Tom “arTisT” Clarke, and Matas “Extinct” Strumila have lost a UK LAN finals, and the first UKIC finals they have lost since Season 3.
Season 7 of UKIC saw a major overhaul to match the “Tournament Operation Requirements” that Valve set for all tournament operators that run VRS events. Therefore, for a team like Max, securing a win in this regional final held a lot of weight as they are just about keeping their head above the Tier-2 European tournament invite threshold. And what looked like a sure win for them turned out to be quite the opposite.
UKIC Season 7 Masters finalists locked in; a new challenger steps up
A Fraser “Frazehh” Sollom-led dripmen qualifying for the finals in Sheffield was a bit of a surprise, but you can’t say they didn’t earn it.
Not only did they top their group in the regular season by beating Max, but they fought through an incredibly lengthy series versus Glitchtech in the semi-finals. Frazehh led by example in the playoffs as he carried his team to victory, boasting an impressive 1.46 HLTV rating.
The core of this team went from missing out on securing playoffs in the last two UKIC Division 1 seasons to now doing one better, and making it to the grand finals. The last time they made the playoffs was in Season 4, where they lost to Belfast Storm in the quarter-finals.
Heading into the LAN finals, Max didn’t seem like they were on top form, however. Long-standing teammates Jamie “Tree60” Callan and Jacob “rezst” Hemming were replaced heading into the grand finals. The British rifler explained to UKCSGO that he was away on holiday during the semi-finals, and that is why Jakub ‘nestee‘ Lempart stepped in for him. rezst, however, seemingly got blindsided as he announced on X only four days before the finals that he was not a part of Max any longer. In his place, ex-teammate Callum “Girafffe” Jones re-joined the roster after leaving early this year.
Max was in a vulnerable state, and dripmen capitalised upon that.
Prime finds revenge in Sheffield after losing in the UKIC Season 5 Division 1 Finals to arTisT and co
Coming out of the gates swinging, dripmen took their opponents’ map pick of Dust 2 13-10, a map Max had beaten them on in the regular season. This momentum continued as Frazehh‘s and Josh “JAUSTERE” Philpott’s consistency secured dripmen a 2-0 lead, only one win away from winning the BO5 grand finals and lifting the UKIC Season 7 Masters trophy.
Max did have some punch back, as they were at least able to win map three extremely dominantly, 13-3. They were unable to build off this momentum as on Nuke, a map that arTisT and co have always been dominant on in the UK, dripmen edged out the win 13-10, ending their reign of domination.
This marked a truly historic moment in UK CS as, for the first time since 2023, the core of Max had lost a UK LAN final. So many teams had tried, but only dripmen succeeded, and the result was only legitimised further by it being a BO5 grand finals.
For the likes of Michael “Prime” John Fury, this is a vindicating result as he had already lost to the core of Max twice in regional finals in 2025; this time, he finds solace in victory and wins his first LAN finals on home soil. IGL Frazehh has been chasing a win for many, many years, and finally lifts his first trophy since 2019, when he won the Grosvenor Esports Season 2 Finals with London Esports.
This marks JAUSTERE‘s second UK LAN win, as he won Insomnia 70 with eMasters. Connor ‘Bigun007‘ Suddons and Kirk ‘Tadpole‘ Stephens, despite both playing in EPIC.LAN finals before, win their first UK LAN.
8Sins reentering CS to pick up the national champions
After their win in Sheffield, it was obvious dripmen wouldn’t stay orgless for too long.
8Sins had previously exited Counter-Strike at the beginning of September after an 11-month stint with the same roster. Now, they reconfirm their dedication to UK Counter-Strike signing the best team in the region.
This marks a homecoming for Prime, who played on 8Sins for almost nine months, notably winning the EPIC.LAN 44 MVP despite placing second.
The roster announcement didn’t include JAUSTERE, as he has retired from competitive gameplay. 8Sins have not announced a permanent fifth yet for the roster, but three time LAN winner William “dobbo” Dobson has played in their opening four ESEA Main games and 8Sins’ first UKIC Season 8 Masters game. He is also signed up to go to EPIC.LAN 46 with 8Sins.
8Sins now are:
Fraser “Frazehh” Sollom
Kirk ‘Tadpole‘ Stephens
Michael “Prime” John Fury
Connor ‘Bigun007‘ Suddons
I dreamt in drips, now I wake up in fire 🔥
Welcome the newest faces of 8SINS Counter Strike:
🇬🇧 @PrimeOPI
🇬🇧 @TadpoleCS
🇬🇧 @frazehhh
🇬🇧 @Bigun_007 #8SINSONFIRE pic.twitter.com/Qt7xinhqCy— 8SINS (@8sinsesports) September 29, 2025
