It’s that time of year again, the decorations are out, the costumes are on and Counter-Strike players from across the British Isles flock to the KCC.
Since the addition of the VRS ranking, EPIC.LAN has seen a shake-up. One of the many changes VRS brought was increasing the importance of LAN wins. This had the unexpected outcome of making regional open LANs the most important events in the calendar for teams chasing the Major qualification.
EPIC.LAN 45 was absolutely no exception, with eams like AaB, Iberian Soul (now Gentle Mates), and Alliance all attending in the summer. Importantly, for better or for worse, EPIC 45 proved that using local LAN events as a booster pad to launch off into the upper echelon of the VRS rankings works. AaB, who placed second, shot up the ranking, going from 115th in Europe to 55th from their trip to the UK.
So local LANs are the new meta, we know that already, that begs the question: what’s next? Well, surprisingly enough, it’s fewer EU teams in Kettering.
UK CS has come out in droves for the Hallowen edition of EPIC this year, whereas EU teams have slightly dwindled. That being said, timing is important. We are now outside the Major cycle, with invites to Budapest having already been handed out. This means there’s less incentive to make the costly trip across Europe to play CS in Northamptonshire. Moreover, EPIC.LAN is ‘protected’ as the BYOC aspect makes it both difficult and costly for teams to attend from abroad.
Let’s break down some of the 44 teams attending, both UK and otherwise, as well as what this event could mean for UK CS.
Will the EPIC.LAN trophy stay in international waters or return home?
The Sinners are back
8Sins look strong, really strong. Not only are they the current UKIC Masters reigning champions, but they are also undefeated in UKIC Season 8 Masters and yet to lose a map. Taking down Jamie “Tree60” Callan’s Wasted Talent along with Awper William “wfn” Maskrey’s Square Square sausages. And this LAN could be a great opportunity for 8Sins to cement their strength.
This version of 8Sins isn’t the same as we’re used to. The 8Sins team that competed last time around have departed the organisation, and now the core of IGL John “Dutchy” Holland, Matthew “moz” Gelder, and wfn are now playing under the Square Sausages. Not just that, their teammate that was benched earlier this year, Michael “Prime” John Fury, has rejoined the org along with the core of Dripmen.
Can Prime win his first EPIC.LAN title in a familiar jersey?
This means that the core that was plagued by Washington is no longer under the 8Sins banner. A clean slate and no Washington provides the org of 8Sins an excellent opportunity to consolidate their place as one of, if not the strongest, UK teams.
Can amanek do it on a cold, rainy night in Kettering?
A fusion of Poland and France comes together to make MINLATE. Headlined by Major finalist François “amanek” Delaunay, MINLATE currently compete in ESEA Advanced, where they sit with a 7-4 record.
With an experienced player like amanek guiding some European youngsters to greater heights, MINLATE have the potential to shoot up the rankings with a decent placement in Kettering.
This roster has already tried its hand in the open LAN circuit as they travelled to Frag Blocktober 2025 in America. The issue is, they never made it to the HLTV stage after losing to Sharks in the opening round of the playoffs. This meant they came back home without the spoils of war and will look to redeem themselves this weekend.
A good placement at EPIC.LAN 46 is very doable, but also necessary. Currently, MINALTE doesn’t even have a VRS rank as they haven’t played enough games in the last six months. However, they are one of the two teams at the event that compete in ESEA Advanced. Showing that they’re already a cut above the rest if they can prove it, the VRS rankings are their oyster.
Square Sausages, no org but a VRS rank and a dream
The core of 8Sins reunites under Square Sausages after departing the organisation. As Dutch, m0z, and wfn have remained together, they keep their VRS points, making this event that little bit more attractive to them.
Three-fifths of Square Sausages made a deep run at EPIC.LAN 45 eventually being eliminated by their domestic rivals, NXT, bringing their title hopes to an end. Alongside this experienced core, they are completed by a veteran of the scene, Kyle “swaggy” Wilson, who won Season three of Grosvenor Championships in 2019, and James “Mad” Debono, who knows what it is like to play on the EPIC.LAN stage.
This time around, Square Sausages comes as a mix, but a mix with skill, experience and decent form. Playing well in UKIC, only losing out to their old org in the upper bracket final of group B, as well as a 5-2 record in ESEA Intermediate, shows good form coming into the UK’s most prestigious LAN.
A dangerous mix of players that you never want to underestimate
Phantom’s Poles make the trip to Kettering
This Polish team has been one of the longest signed-up teams for this event, signing up before EPIC 45 had even ended. Phantom Esports is a team with ambition and talent. They’ve shown they’ve got the ambition by making the journey to Kettering; now Phantom are here, they need to show the talent.
Names like Mateusz “TOAO” Zawistowski will ring a bell to those who know Polish CS, playing for teams like AGO, Izako Boars and even Virtus.Pro. Whilst Hubert “szejn” Światły is known for his year on Mouz NXT and then bouncing around the Polish scene since.
This won’t be their first open LAN as they competed at the stacked Birch Cup 2025, beating Wildcard and ESC, and only losing to fnatic and BIG.
With Experience from TOAO to Phantom, share a similar story to MINLATE, a player that’s done the rounds, showing the next generation the ropes.
The Last Resort returns to its roots
At the previous EPIC.LAN, TLR shipped in European talent like Thomas “BirdFromSky” Due-Frederiksen and Major finalist Nicolas “Keoz” Dgus. This time around, they’ve returned to their roots. LAN Veteran Joseph “Godku” Fawkes helms another TLR roster with previous LAN winner Tree60 playing alongside him.
With this return to British roots, TLR hope to make some waves with this now fully established roster that they’ve put together. Competing in UKIC Masters Season 8, ESEA Main and now EPIC.LAN, TLR have had a lot of opportunities to refine their craft ahead of the Kettering LAN event.
That being said, TLR are hamstrung by having to play with a different roster for each event. Roster mainstay Alistair “Alibond” Bond can’t make EPIC.LAN this year, so Daniel “Geckeos” Callan is filling in for him. Incidentally, Geckeos also plays for TLR in UKIC, in place of his brother Tree60, as he qualified for UKIC Masters with a different team. The roster will hope that this six-man rotating team won’t hinder their chances at the Kettering event.
Tree60 will be searching for his second EPIC.LAN win
Nemesis make their EPIC.LAN debut
Nemesis have been travelling all over the place to attempt to bolster their VRS ranking, to Birch Cup 2025 in Poland and Urban Riga Open #1 in Latvia. Unfortunately, their travelling hasn’t been fruitful; they didn’t make it out of the open qualifiers of Birch Cup 2025. Fortunately, that was still 3 HLTV matches. Their luck dried up as they didn’t even reach the HLTV stage of the Urban Riga Open.
Coming into Kettering, British IGL Thomas “Thomas” Utting will want to win on his home turf and gain those all-important VRS points that he was hunting in Riga and Gdansk. EPIC also coincides with the possible HLTV debut for the two new Belgian signings, Bram “Nexius” Campana and Roman “n0te” Hamze.
Nemesis will have a fantastic shot at making it deep at the KCC, as well as getting those LAN HLTV matches that they’re so desperately after.
Nemesis part ways with bevve and Frip to make space for Belgian duo
The mixes!
It’s EPIC.LAN, of course, there’s going to be mix teams.
UKCSGO’s finest will be appearing in the form of Ethan “fl0wz” Rogerson, Archie “RJS” Henry and Arnie “Stetson” Petty under the banner of TELOS, where our graphic designer will have the chance to demonstrate his signature “fl0wzball” in the inters tournament.
Another familiar mix comes in the form of EPIC.LAN 45 Inters champions: 29AvgAge. With the Ex-Synical core of Joe “Dexie” Denmon, Luke “Nem” Mear, Seth “Xetherato” Jackson, and Harry “Nukeddog” Jenkins returning to defend their inters title, or maybe go for the main one this time?
Professional X poster Alex “Edeninho” Holder will be appearing at LAN like usual. It wouldn’t be an Edeninho team if the name wasn’t outlandish. This time, for better or for worse, they represent their friend Connor “Finuii” Finucane as they compete under the name: “FINUI HAS A 3 KILL STREAK.”
29AvaAge will try to utalise experience to maintain their inters crown
The talent pool
Now EPIC.LAN mainstays, Alexander “OneWing” Derham and Alessandro “sh1n” Scaglia, are back for their third EPIC.LAN on the bounce. They’re now familiar faces to the UK scene, casting plenty of UKIC and ESEA matches for various teams in the UK scene.
Casting Veteran Jamie “EternalJay” returns to commentary at EPIC.LAN for the first time since 2023’s EPIC.LAN 38. On the other hand, Jawad “JaffaCasts” Sarafraz returns for his second LAN, whilst Harry “Bob” Ward and Felix “Felix0” Heaton make their casting debuts here at EPIC 46.
Format
The format of this EPIC mirrors that of the last, with a record number of teams in attendance. There will be another UCL league phase format to kick off the groups, with the playoffs being a double-elimination bracket. This EPIC.LAN has confirmed HLTV coverage and therefore will have VRS-ranked LAN matches; however, it is yet to be confirmed how many matches are going to be on HLTV.
Last EPIC.LAN was stacked with EU and UK teams in attendance. With the overall quality and quantity of EU teams at this event, it can be assumed that there may be fewer matches on HLTV.
EPIC.LAN 46 is going to be one to remember. The cohort of EU teams is weaker than the last event, giving the potential for the crown to return to a UK team. That being said, these EU teams are no slouches; it’s not going to be easy for the title to come home. Teams like 8Sins will give the European contingent a run for their money, whilst teams like Nemesis will be coming with nothing less than the title as their expectations.
A worry many might have had about this event before its start is that UK teams would be dissuaded from turning up to this event due to the influx of EU teams. If anything, the opposite is true.
UK CS has shown why they love Kettering and EPIC.LAN with 40 UK teams in total, making the journey over this Halloween weekend to play the game they love.
