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Feature

It feels good to hope again

by Dafydd 15 May 2023

written by Dafydd

I headed up the return of UKCSGO one year and two days ago. I had a call with the owner, Adam “blanks” Heath, at one o’clock in the morning whilst I was in a Moxy Hotel in Romania, providing Dust2.us coverage for the Antwerp Americas RMR. I pitched an idea where we would return to provide much-needed coverage to a scene that desperately needed it. During that call, no part of me ever believed that within less than a year I would be sat in the press room of a Major watching the players I’d interviewed in the LAN halls of Kettering be one win away from playing in a crowded arena.

But Into the Breach have made the impossible happen.

From an unstable team with an AWPer problem to a formidable opponent taking down FaZe and ENCE on LAN, Into the Breach have given me hope. In the UK we are told that “it’s the hope that kills you” and that may be true, but after years of having nobody to root for it just feels good to hope again. Into the Breach have not only shown that UK CS:GO can produce a strong team, but it has shown that UK CS has a fan-base. Crawling out of their deep slumber UK CS fans have come out in full-force to support their new top dogs. It was best described by Thomas “Thomas” Utting who said; “I think that the UK’s always lacked a team.” Now that team has arrived.

Photo Credit: @GrimyRannarr

Their arrival was slow at first as it had been at the RMR. This time they didn’t take NAVI to double-overtime; they were instead cut down to size by Apeks. The high flying international squad proved too much for Into the Breach, despite a fake comeback in the second half. Into the Breach had their heads down, in Sebastian “volt” Malos’ words “the Apeks loss which was pretty sad for us because we went into that game expecting to win.” For many at home the loss confirmed their worst fears: Into the Breach would live up to expectations of those who had them going 0-3. The run was a tease, a fluke, they shouldn’t even be at the Major and they wouldn’t be there for very long. Or so people thought.

Gustavo “Juve” Alexandre, the youngest coach to ever compete in a Major, knew he had to get his boys back on track. Apeks was a tough game, a tough loss, but it was just one game and there was plenty more to come. FaZe was their next opponent, one of the greatest teams in the world, but if they played with the confidence they had showed at the RMR maybe they had a slight chance, a glimmer of hope, to avoid going 0-2. Maybe if they fought tooth and nail it would be a close affair that they might just edge in double or triple overtime.

Or not.

As the game started, the UK scene did not know what they were about to witness. Neither did anyone else. The game starts pretty evenly, FaZe look a little flat, but don’t let it slip away from them… until they do. Into the Breach get one, two, three, four, five in a row! The casters can’t believe what they are seeing, my voice has already gone hoarse in the pressroom and I can hear the screaming from across the building. The first half ends at 10-5, everybody’s hearts are racing, but we know it’s not over. FaZe is not a team you can underestimate, they are not a team you can count out of any game.

Photo Credit: @Vexanie

Into the Breach on the T-side with a five round lead, am I dreaming?

Reality starts to kick in again as FaZe put up five rounds in a row and start to close the deficit, but then the Pole steps up to bat. Momentum is swinging against Into the Breach and Karol “rallen” Rodowicz wins a 1v2, they capitalise with two more rounds. 15-10. I walk over to the player area to watch, Into the Breach start losing. 15-12.

“I’m a bad omen.” I said to the press next to me.

I walk back to the press room. I look up at the TV. Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel to win it… He’s not the problem.

I can’t even imagine what the Twitch chat looked like in that moment. The grief that SashAFP was giving FaZe fans must have been immense and it’s just the start.

The players walked out with exhausted excitement written across their faces, I’ve never seen players so eager to talk to UKCSGO before. They had plenty to say, but not the words to say it. After the interviews Cai “CYPHER” Watson begun to walk off and someone confirmed that ENCE was their matchup

“Damn” I remember him saying. Not much else.

The next day rolls around and the team arrives at the venue with smiles on their faces. As Kobe famously said “the job’s not done”, but for the longest time we haven’t even been employed. Into the Breach hadn’t gone 0-3. Surely that was enough. It might have been enough for me, but it wasn’t enough for the players. The smiles never faded. The British lads tore their way through ENCE in the 1-1 matchup and they never looked as if they would lose – not for a second. They scythed straight through the international squad and put the idea of playing in the Major playoffs within reach.

As I said in the beginning: it feels good to hope. Maybe Into the Breach win, maybe Into the Breach lose, but it doesn’t matter. Either way they’ve given me hope.

To me… that’s enough.

15 May 2023 0 comment

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Once More Into the Breach: UK’s New Kings Head to RMR

by Tom Coles 5 April 2023

written by Tom Coles

It’s unfair to say that the 2023 Into the Breach lineup came out of nowhere, because all their parts have in fact been around for years. However, the impact of the roster putting those pieces together has been explosive. The combined experience of Endpoint alumni Thomas “Thomas” Utting and Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel, along with probably the two brightest young talents in the UK scene in Cai “CYPHER” Watson and Sebastian “volt” Malos, anchored by journeyman rifler & FPL mainstay Karol “rallen” Radowicz have people wondering… why has nobody tried this before?

2022 was a rough year for everyone in the lineup. Thomas joined Team Coalesce, but parted ways with the majority-Swedish team after just three weeks and spent the rest of the year confined to stand-in appearances. CRUC1AL was benched from Endpoint after two-and-a-half years with the organisation, while the initial promise of the old Into the Breach team with CYPHER and coach Gustavo “Juve” Alexandre devolved into stagnation in the world rankings. rallen’s path in 2022 took him to teams including Monte and GamerLegion, but he found himself cut before their successes. Even volt, despite his success with fnatic Rising, ended up teamless following the dissolution of the roster.

The Into the Breach roster was something of an open secret throughout the winter, but even then it wasn’t set in stone. Into the Breach owner Sam “SlayTheMinotaur” Macedonio teased an upcoming lineup and promised that over 50% of the organisation’s salary budget would go on the CS:GO team alone. At the time, it was rumoured heavily that Owen “smooya” Butterfield and Thomas would re-unite, as well as bringing in CYPHER and volt. But after various trials and fifths, smooya ended up leaving the project, opting instead to re-form his Benched Heroes mix. In his place came Thomas’ former team-mate CRUC1AL, with Thomas taking on IGL duties and rallen chosen as the fifth to create a UK core with an international flavour.

UK fans got a sneak preview of the lineup when they were invited to the CCT West Europe Series 1 Closed Qualifier as Orgless Heroes. They qualified without dropping a map, defeating Viperio in the qualification fixture, and their signing was announced in time for the main event to start. A week later and the team lined up for the BLAST Paris Major Open Qualifier, defeating PGE Turow and Masonic to reach the Closed Qualifier. Racing into a 2-0 lead, the team suffered defeats to 9INE and Eternal Fire in the best-of-three qualification games, but ultimately secured their spot in Copenhagen with a victory over HAVU to give them a 3-2 record.

Their best weapon in 2023 has been rallen, whose late-round lurks and strong CT holds make him the top-rated player on both attack and defence. At the Closed Qualifier, he averaged a 1.24 rating to pull Into the Breach over the line. It also helps that IGLing has not slowed Thomas down, with the 25 year-old managing a 1.07 rating – the same as AWPer Cruc1al – over 2023 so far. While CYPHER’s average rating has taken a drop from 2022, perhaps impacted by roles, his consistency in going for opening kills (which is double the attempts of his team-mates on the T-side) is vital to the team. volt, meanwhile, has thrived as a late-round closer, with a 57.5% success rate in 1v1s and a number of 1v2 and 1v3 clutches to his name.

The team have managed some key milestones outside of RMR qualification. They rose to the top of the UK rankings at the beginning of February off the back of strong performances in international events, and remain unbeaten against domestic competition. They also managed to take a victory against Endpoint in CCT West Europe Series 2, the first time since late 2021 for CYPHER and a spot of revenge for Thomas and Cruc1al. They made it into the top 50 of HLTV’s rankings, peaking at #46 in late March – just 5 places off the organisation’s peak last year.

That said, good results have been difficult to come by. Into the Breach have played four CCT events this year, but have a best finish of 9th-16th. Their 3-0 run in groups of CCT West Europe Series 2 was followed by an immediate exit to Sangal, while an upset win over a struggling Sprout in BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic also proved for nought as the team fell to HEET in the last round of the Swiss Stage. CYPHER and volt being the two lowest-rated players on the team may be a cause for concern, both youngsters posting lower average ratings than last season, and Cruc1al’s numbers continue to be more solid than flashy in a meta that increasingly relies on star numbers from a team’s AWPer.

Things don’t get easier at the RMR, as the team face NAVI in the opening round. While the Ukrainian organisation are not the force they were in late 2021/early 2022, having struggled to replace Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhaylov, they remain one of the scene’s top sides with the ever-present two-pronged threat of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev and Denis “electroNic” Sharipov. One factor in Into the Breach’s favour is that CRUC1AL was part of the Endpoint side which stunned NAVI at ESL Pro League Season 16. The match is also a best-of-1, perhaps injecting just enough randomness for the Brits to pull off an upset.

Another factor in ITB’s favour is the groupings for the RMR. Being based on Valve’s ranking rather than HLTV’s, many of the “big names” have ended up in RMR B, which has an average HLTV ranking of 18.7 – RMR A, which Into the Breach are in, has only 4 top 10 teams and an average HLTV ranking of 31.7. With a few upsets, a path does open up for Into the Breach to make Paris – though with the sheer number of possibilities, this author does not want to speculate on any particular set of outcomes. They come in as the #13 seed, and a victory over NAVI would potentially set up a fixture against Virtus.Pro – the roster who won the IEM Rio Major under Outsiders. Unlikely wins? Yes. Impossible? No.

That sums up Into the Breach quite nicely actually. Nobody expected Thomas to take up in-game leading duties, but much like Max “MiGHTYMAX” Heath before him, he seems to have made a strong transition from star player to caller. CYPHER returning to the organisation which released him was not on many people’s bingo cards, but he has backed the decision by showing up with impact in key rounds. And rallen has found a team willing to put faith in him and rewarded them with strong performances. Regardless of what happens in Copenhagen, there is surely more to come from this lineup over the course of 2023 – the new domestic kings just need to take that extra step in the international scene.

Disclaimer: Tom Coles, the author of this article, works for Endpoint as a Community Manager.

5 April 2023 0 comment

All News Feature

One to watch: arTisT

by meffew 5 April 2023

written by meffew

Irish player Tom “arTisT” Clarke is currently playing for Viperio as both the team’s IGL and AWPer simultaneously. While this is no easy task and no small responsibility, arTisT has consistently led his teams to success, picking up trophies both domestically and internationally along the way. Today, we wind back the clock and take a look at the steps arTisT took when starting out in his CS:GO career, and how he fought his way into the upper echelons of UKCS.

arTisT‘s early days in CS:GO back in 2018 and 2019 were spent playing with British players, such as Kirk “Tadpole” Stephens back when in ESEA started in Season 23. It was here that he made his first dive into competitive play, participating in the UK Open and ESEA Intermediate seasons.

arTisT had numerous attempts at trying to qualify for the main section of the ESL Premiership tournament. This was back when divisions were included to separate the online and offline parts of the event. He played under various organisations such as Devious Gaming, Team Osterity and Chrome Gaming – the latter of which marked an early stage in his career, as he attended his second UK LAN being Season 3 of EPIC.LAN’s Grosvenor qualifiers in Manchester at the end of 2019 with the org. This came after his first UK appearance at Season 1 of the Grosvenor events in Manchester, where he played alongside Ciaran “biscu” King, an incredibly important and influential figure for arTisT in his CS:GO career.

arTisT shared some words about this early stage of his career and first UK LAN event:

Our core was Irish back then, so it didn’t feel possible to go over and attend EPIC.LAN or Insomnia. When we saw the locations for the Grosvenor events, we knew we had to take the opportunity to compete against some of the best players in the UK. We played for fun and we ended up beating a few teams, eventually playing Endpoint on Nuke.

We started on T side, which was a wild decision from biscu… and lost the game 16-10. I remember this because as a player, 10 rounds against Endpoint is Ciaran’s [biscu] highest achievement, and he never stops talking about it.

arTisT and Chrome Gaming spending time with Irish team Mythos at Season 3 of the Grosvenor qualifiers in Manchester.
Photo credits: EPIC.LAN

After their run at the Grosvenor Manchester Qualifier, arTisT and Seth “Xeth” Jackson parted ways with Chrome and recruited some new faces to join them in their journey. They joined European organisation Eidos, and made their debut with a win in the group stage of ESL Premiership Spring 2020. They ultimately missed out on playoffs due to their 3W-4L record in groups, but during this time, they exchanged Josh “Yoshwa” Ryley for Matas “Extinct” Strumilla, marking the beginning of another important relationship between arTisT and his future teammates.

UMX Gaming

Swiss-owned organisation UMX Gaming came knocking after the team parted ways with Eidos, and it was here that the team’s true identity began to take shape and arTisT began to make a name for himself. Notorious for their hyper-aggressive playstyle which caught many teams off guard, UMX quickly rose to notoriety in the UK scene as devout followers of FURIA’s iconic approach towards CS. The players even changed their names to further this connection with the Brazilian team, embracing and embodying the fearless playstyle they preached.

It was at this time that arTisT had a notable change of roles too, with the titular player swapping to an aggressive rifle role to accommodate Oliver “Maza” Mazalero’s position as the team’s new primary AWPer. He clearly found comfort in the new positions, both from a calling and individual perspective, as these changes clearly paid off. The players began to advance past their peers of similar skill – UMX began seeing more appearances on HLTV, and were even invited to the Pinnacle Cup in 2021 and BLAST Rising 2021.

arTisT highlighted the reasons for this change in their team composition:

I realised we sucked, we were just truly horrible in every aspect of the game. So, I just thought about copying a team one for one – the defaults, the mid round decisions, and how they set themselves up to succeed. We fully bought into the idea, and that’s why it worked.

As an IGL, it felt like I was cheating. FURIA at the time were on the rise because they were utilizing a unique playstyle – for example, on Overpass, they would never go A. They’d just brute force monster and get as many rounds as possible. For some of our games it worked, and others it didn’t, no matter what the outcome was, the plan stayed in place and everyone kept the faith.

UMX were a serious contender in ESEA Main, and during their outing in Season 35, the squad managed to qualify for playoffs. arTisT was unfortunately knocked out from the running however, after the team suffered losses to both Partizan and a Kyle “Swaggy” Wilson-led Royals. After gathering themselves, and with the extra help of coach Oscar “Keto” Kilvington, UMX reached playoffs once again in Season 36 and took it all the way to earn their promotion to Advanced, after three best-of-three wins, bringing an end to arTisT‘s seven consecutive seasons in Main.

2-0 vs UNITY ESEA ADVANCED! VAMOSSSS 🔥🔥🔥🔥🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
finally happened @TadpoleCS @Girafffe1 @maz_oli @KetoCs @ExtinctsCS pic.twitter.com/kfV6znOTJD

— arTisT (@arTisTcsgo) April 6, 2021

After this massive milestone in his career, arTisT didn’t take his foot off the gas. UMX continued their dominance in domestic competition such as EPIC.LAN’s online WAN events. The first of these was EPIC.WAN 31, where UMX sailed through the tournament to secure first place with a 2-0 result against “Stream Team” featuring UKCS icons William “mezii” Merriman and Alex “ALEX” McMeekin. arTisT produced a masterclass during the tournament, only dropping a single map to peak in the playoffs of the event.

This impressive form continued into subsequent WANs, as they won EPIC.WAN 32 in a similar fashion by only dropping a single map in playoffs once more, and made the three-peat, as they were crowned the victors of EPIC.WAN 33, once again only dropping one map throughout the entire duration of playoffs. These three titles were enough to solidify UMX and arTisT as some of the top dogs in the UK scene, and proved that their efforts in this chapter of his story were more than just luck.

I think the highest point for the UMX roster was winning EPIC.WAN, I don’t think any of us had won anything up to that point. We were copying FURIA for a while, and everything seemed to fall into place around that event. When we started getting our HLTV invites, we suffered a lot of losses and close games. I think it came down to having a small strat book and not completely understanding our ideas, which led to these results.

– arTisT on UMX’s success

Coalesce

After their stint with UMX Gaming and the organisation ultimately releasing the team due to funding issues, arTisT and his boys played under the mix name “The Zoo” while they waited for their next opportunity. This was very short-lived, as a major announcement was made public not even a month after their initial separation from UMX.

Coalesce was formed, a brand new British organisation. This was a major development in terms of organisations in the UK scene, as many orgs who suffered the same fate as UMX banded together and created a new “super-team”. This involved other household names in UKCS at the time such as Audacity Gaming, Electrify Esports and Peak Esports.

Sporting the core of their preceding organisation, Coalesce returned to EPIC.LAN with the three-time WAN winners under their banner. Yet another flawless run in the group stage cemented their spot in the upper bracket of playoffs, and once again, arTisT led his troops to victory in each round, ultimately winning the entire event without dropping a single map. arTisT dropped a 1.18 HLTV Rating in the grand finals against mix-team “Ratio’d”, adding another performance to shout about for the Irish AWPer.

Coalesce celebrating their first LAN win as a team at EPIC.LAN 34. Photo credits: EPIC.LAN

Coalesce also found themselves with a spot in a tournament held in Malta, the SiGMA Esports Cup 2021. Ambush had dropped out of the tournament, and Coalesce had won the wild-card qualifier to swipe the last remaining spot at the event. Despite multiple factors working against them, such as the fact that they weren’t even meant to be in attendance at the tournament in the first place, as well as being forced to use two stand-ins in Tim “TIMMO” Musters and Javier “Ping” Griffiths, the team came up big. Besting the likes of SAW Youngsters and FTW, arTisT and Coalesce had defied the odds and showed up when it mattered, winning the grand finals 2-1 and scoring a 1.13 HLTV Rating and 1.28 Impact rating for the event.

None of us will ever forget the feeling of getting champagne blasted at us while they played Sweet Caroline in the background. We had played with TIMMO before, but we had only met Ping one week before the event. Immediately, we had the Ping effect on our side.

FAMBIT

Although the official reasoning was kept from the public, arTisT and his men decided to part ways with Coalesce. Despite the lack of organisational support, arTisT didn’t struggle to lead his team to victory. In season 40 of Advanced, FAMBIT made a stellar run in playoffs after qualifying with a 9W-5L record in the regular season. FAMBIT picked up some serious upset wins against the likes of VELOX, ECLOT and even the Russian powerhouse of tier-2, forZe. Arguably arTisT‘s first deep run in the heights of tier-2 competition in Europe, Season 40 marked an important chapter in the history of his achievements as a player.

The team attended Insomnia 68, the first LAN event from the organiser since the COVID pandemic had struck the globe. After sailing through the group stage, FAMBIT continued to dominate the opposition throughout playoffs as they soared to the upper bracket finals without losing a map, besting The Last Resort and EKO Esports along the way. Matched up against Into the Breach, who at the time appointed Owen “smooya” Butterfield as the team’s AWPer, arTisT had his work cut out for him heading into this match-up. The squad were not dissuaded however, and emerged victorious with a 2-1 showing in the best-of-three, earning FAMBIT a spot in the grand finals. Into the Breach exacted their revenge in the finals, outlasting FAMBIT 3-2 in the best-of-five series, leaving arTisT as a runner-up at the event this time around.

EKO

After EKO’s stint with their Oscar “LVN” Levin-led roster came to an end, the organisation looked to fill the void in their place and return to UKCS with a vengeance. FAMBIT were signed as the new face of EKO, and arTisT led the team to continue their streak of wins under the red, white and blue banner.

Less than a month after joining, EKO had qualified for alpenScene LEVEL UP 2022, an offline tournament in Salzberg, Austria. The event headlined four teams with the semi-finals played out in a studio, and the grand finals being played on stage at the venue, where EKO dispatched Sissi State Punks 2-0 in the semis. They took it all the way into the finals, winning it out 2-1 against Austrian mix-team “murders2002” after a comeback from being down 5-10 at the half on map three of Vertigo. arTisT and EKO walked away with first place under their belts, as well as a sweet €3200 to boot.

The best moment of the weekend! #LetsGoEKO #GetEKOd pic.twitter.com/TUxQ8CSmNx

— EKO Esports (@EKO_Esport) July 2, 2022

Looking to seek vengeance for their last outing in Birmingham, arTisT and EKO returned to the halls of the NEC at Insomnia 69, looking to take it one step further than the fate they suffered at Insomnia 68. Another flawless group stage performance set them on the path ahead through playoffs, and EKO breezed their way through the upper bracket and into another showing in the grand finals on the stage. They faced off against ManHo “mrhui” Hui’s Temperate, who had faced trials and tribulations in their impressive lower bracket run to make it to the stage. Despite going up 2-0 in the best-of-five, EKO were reverse swept on the subsequent three maps and were forced to walk away with second place once again.

This didn’t phase arTisT however, as he led EKO to continue their strong strides into the UKIC Summer Invitational 2022. Taking down the likes of a fearless “tokyoxd” mix headlined by smooya as well as 1PIN during a very dominant period, EKO faced off against Into The Breach in the grand finals and ultimately bested the knights 2-1 to take the title and first place prize. arTisT posted a 1.08 HLTV Rating across the tournament, second only to Jack “Gizmy” von Spreckelsen’s 1.10 rating for EKO across the tournament, and even netted a 1v5 on map three, eventually being awarded with UKIC Play of the Year for such an incredible round.

arTisT and EKO Esports with the 2nd place prize at Insomnia 69. Photo credits: Insomnia Gaming Festival UK

After a lengthened tenure with the British organisation, arTisT and his troops decided against renewing their contracts with EKO and returned to competition under the name SOS. Along with the rebrand, the team also underwent some roster changes in the form of removing Tadpole and Extinct from the active roster. They picked up the familiar face of Ping and promising young talent Rūdolfs “rud” Osmanis, a 17-year-old Latvian AWPer.

rud’s tenure with the team was short-lived however, as arTisT and his men were approached by British organisation Viperio with an offer of funding and representation. Rud would’ve stayed on the team, but UKCSGO understands that since Viperio were sponsored by a betting company, his young age meant that he would not be able to sign with the organisation. In response to this, the team took their chance and snatched up Marco “MMS” Salomone from Temperate to fill the void left in their team, and arTisT’s squad took its next step towards becoming the roster we know it as today.

Viperio

arTisT‘s debut with Viperio was one to remember. Shortly after signing with the organisation, the winter split of ESL Premiership 2022 rolled around and became one of the team’s most successful runs in the UK competition to date. After a group stage record of 3-2, the team went into playoffs with a point to prove, taking down Royals in the quarter-finals before dispatching 1PIN in a 2-0 fashion. Landing themselves a spot in the grand finals against the undisputed top dogs of the UK in Max “MiGHTYMAX” Heath and Kia “Surreal” Man. Endpoint emerged victorious in a gruelling 5 map series, but arTisT once again stood tall as the primary force on the underdog’s side, posting a 1.13 HLTV rating over the Bo5, as well as edging out Milos “mhL” Knasiak in their head-to-head duels.

Viperio decided upon undertaking the BLAST.tv Paris Major RMR Qualifiers in February, even while utilizing Rory “cryths” Ursell as a substitute. The open qualifiers were no match for arTisT, as Viperio took down some legendary names on their path to the closed qualifiers, such as Swedish mix “boomer demons”, headlining the likes of Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, and Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer. Once again, arTisT stood out from the crowd as he boasted a roster-high 1.17 HLTV Rating for the event, earning Viperio a spot in the subsequent closed qualifier.

Going head to head against some household names in tier-2 wasn’t enough to phase arTisT. The British-Irish team scored serious upset wins against 1WIN, PGE Turow and even a #23 rated SAW to earn themselves the honors of attending the last CS:GO RMR in Copenhagen alongside fellow Brits Into the Breach. More can be read about here, where the details of both Viperio and Into the Breach’s RMR runs are expanded.

Qualifying to the RMR itself feels very special, I think we are the first full UK/IRE team to make it there, and hopefully we can put on a show for everyone. I’m just happy we have a scene since there isn’t many of us left, but we all do support each other and if anyone ever needs help, I’m more than happy to give it. I really think that’s important.

Despite their feats, Viperio were not without their flaws. At EPIC.LAN 38, the team cruised through to the finals for the umpteenth time, but once again stared down the barrel of defeat at the hands of a newly-signed Coalesce, who took the finals 2-1 in the best-of-three series. At the event, Viperio were utilizing Ping as a substitute for their yet-to-be-signed fifth player, which also carried over into their Advanced playoffs run in Season 44. arTisT and Viperio had a solid shot at their promotion attempt, but ultimately fell short as they failed to qualify for the ESL Challenger League.

Viperio in the grand finals of EPIC.LAN 38. Photo credits: Freddie “GrimyRannarr” Pritchard

Why is arTisT one to watch? As an integral part in each team he’s played for over the past few years, arTisT has taken up crucial roles such as AWPing and IGLing, even undertaking both at the same time as we track his chronology forward to the present day. He is a statistically superior player compared to domestic competitors in the UK scene, and through his effort in 2022, he earned himself both the UKIC Player of the Year award and the UKIC Play of the Year. Throughout countless iterations, the teams he has led have won numerous events online and offline, both domestically and throughout Europe. On top of this, arTisT led his team all the way through both the open and closed qualifiers for the BLAST Paris RMRs, where they secured a place at the event, making history as the first Irish player to compete at such a level. arTisT shall go down in the history books as one of the founding fathers of CS in Ireland, and it is clear that he intends to give so much more to his already legendary status.

arTisT shared his player to watch for the future:

For me, I’d say dox. He’s just someone that keeps working hard, improving his team, and you can see it with the recent results. Often IGLs never get the credit they deserve, but dox definitely deserves recognition for the grind he’s been doing for the last few years. Hopefully he plays Nuke soon.

5 April 2023 0 comment

All News Feature

One to watch in 2023: Ducky

by meffew 25 January 2023

written by meffew

21-year-old Mohamad “Ducky” Nourelden is a crucial part of the Arctic Raptors fearless offense, with many describing him and the team’s AWPer William “wfn” Maskrey as the fangs and claws of the prehistoric predators. As they prepare to head into their first season of ESEA Advanced, UKCSGO took some time to look back on Ducky’s difficult path to success, looking at the victories, painful defeats and lessons learned along the way.

Ducky’s first notable team was Feenix Ryzing, previously known as Ignite Esports. Headlined by the titular player of Ducky, he was joined by some other now-known elements within the scene, including both Isaac “isaac” Patto and Zy “yz0” Esponilla. This team was somewhat of an underdog in ESEA Intermediate during their expeditions in season 39 and 40, and after an impressive run in the latter, the squad qualified for playoffs and scored 2 wins to guarantee a spot in the next season of ESEA Main. Ducky was a key factor in the team’s success, posting 92 ADR and a 0.86 KPR throughout both the regular and playoffs portions of the season.

UKCSGO asked Ducky about this first step in the early stages of his career:

My time in Feenix Ryzing was a good opportunity for me to develop as a player. Making a name for myself in the UK scene was not something I intended to do, but I was fortunate enough to have met the likes of yz0, isaac, ARTZ, Hazzernator and Jins; a great set of players both inside and outside of CS.

Their string of success was coming to an end however, as was revealed in a twitlonger from isaac. He spoke about how he and Ducky had made it clear that they were considering other offers together after the season had concluded, but after their progress in playoffs, they put those plans on the back burner and focused on sticking with the team. This sentiment was not shared between the other members of the roster, which resulted in both isaac and Ducky losing out on their spot in Main next season.

This left Ducky to fend for himself, but with a statistically outstanding season of play under his belt, it wouldn’t take long before he found himself a spot in his next team.

Being with them for a season (some two seasons) taught me a lot, especially from Hazz as the coach. He helped me develop the correct attitude and mindset, which in turn had a huge impact on the way I play team CS.

While it wasn’t a permanent spot on the roster, the ManHo “mrhui” Hui-led The Last Resort were down a player at the beginning of the season, and recruited Ducky to fill the empty space on their starting five in a substitute capacity. While he didn’t perform to a stand-out level, he was an extremely reliable force during this limited opportunity, even assisting the team to qualify for Beyond’s 2022 Spring Invitational.

Congratulations @TheLastResort who take down #EcoCobras off stream and earn themselves a spot in the @Beyondnrg Spring Invitational 👏

🔫 @emyr_green
🔫 @YoshwaUK
🔫 @Ziimzey
🔫 @MMS__CS
🔫 @MoNou__ #UKIC | #WeGoBeyond pic.twitter.com/jQHOoP8Bu7

— UK & Ireland Circuit (@UKICircuit) April 2, 2022

His duties soon came to an end as TLR were finally able to field their official 5 man roster, making Ducky redundant and LFT once again. His next team, AVA Esports, took no shortage of time to come knocking thanks to his string of remarkable performances. After losing two players in the middle of the season, most notably Oscar “AZUWU” Bell to a head-turning Heaven & Hell at the time, AVA hoped to bounce back and pick up where they left off with new additions Ducky and Seth “Xeth” Jackson. Led by a promising IGL in the form of Earl “Earl” Stephenson, the team looked set to make waves throughout the rest of the season in Main.

Ducky’s time under the AVA banner was much shorter than expected, as he was dropped from the roster at the end of the season. Initial speculation would point towards a poor statistical performance for such a quick change, however, Ducky was up high in the stat lines only second to Earl, boasting 85 ADR and another roster-high 0.83 KPR. UKCSGO understands that the team didn’t think Ducky fit into the overall system they were hoping for, and once again, it seemed as if he was left without a team for the upcoming season of ESEA.

Shortly before this, Rasmus “zodi” Frølich had parted ways with the Danish team SERA ESPORT, and Havik Esports’s rebuild going into season 41 left wfn on the sidelines. The two team-less players approached Ducky while he was playing for AVA, and he accepted their offer of a new project. He prepared to announce this to his teammates, but on the very same day, AVA had come to the decision to drop him from the starting five. They officially joined arms and announced their search for the last two players to round out their roster on Twitter, and after picking up Maciej “m1ster” Rudzki and fellow Havik Esports player Euan “synergii” Wilson, the bones of what we know today as the fearsome Arctic Raptors was born.

After my stand-in situation with TLR and playing in Earl’s team for a short while, I was approached by wfn to trial with him and zodi. Being in the team at the very beginning was challenging. I had much to learn, however, with papp and zodi’s support, I was able to bring out my potential [as part] of the team in practice and officials.

This squad’s potential was very promising, but many were quick to point out attitude as a possible downfall for the team. While some may have talked them down, one organisation had their eyes set on Ducky and company, which they followed through with by signing the team. New British organisation XRAVEL announced their partnership with the team, and the first step in Ducky’s next breakout team was born.

We would like to give a warm welcome to the official XRAVEL CSGO roster competing in @ESEA Main & @scleague_net Master Division this season.

– @zodi_cs 🇩🇰
– @wfnnnnn 🇬🇧
– @m1steriwnl 🇵🇱
– @synergii_cs 🇬🇧
– @MoNou__ 🇬🇧

– @DanHart93 🇬🇧 (Coach)#XRAVELWIN pic.twitter.com/gUIADQjJNd

— XRΛVEL (@XRAVELGG) July 17, 2022

XRAVEL got off to a formidable start. Their inaugural season in Main reaffirmed the confidence reflected in the players from the organisation, where they recorded an outstanding 11W-1L scoreline in season 42’s regular season. Ducky was once again the frontrunner in this incredible accomplishment, totalling another roster-high 85 ADR and 0.78 KPR, tying with zodi as the primary offensive forces in the team.

These strides continued into the post-season, where XRAVEL took on the Danish opposition of Catchii in round two of the upper bracket and came out on top with a 2-1 victory. Only one Bo3 stood between Ducky and Advanced, but their dreams were cut short after losing to ONYX Talents and flowstate in the upper and lower bracket respectively. Although the squad had fallen short at the very last hurdle, Ducky stood above the pack as a force to be reckoned with, sporting another 0.78 KPR and 88 ADR.

Throughout the season and during this downtime, the team played in other tournaments and qualifiers with moderate success. They qualified for ESL Premiership Autumn 2022 in the second qualifier and took part in SCL during season six – which further contributed to Ducky‘s status as the team’s top fragger, posting a 1.35K/D and 0.88 KPR. Most notably, XRAVEL qualified for Beyond’s 2022 Summer Invitational, where they took down fellow Main competitors K10 and Temperate to qualify for the main event on HLTV, a career first for Ducky. Although it was a single-elimination format, and while being forced to play with a stand-in due to synergii being out of the country, Ducky stepped up on the server and finished the Bo3 with a 1.20 HLTV rating versus a formidable 1PIN.

With some time for post-season evaluation, Ducky and co. parted ways with m1ster and acquired Seán “Atrox” Greene to bolster the team’s firepower even further. EPIC.LAN 37 rolled around, and XRAVEL were anticipated to make a very deep run at the event, looking likely to beat many of the other teams and mixes in attendance.

UKCSGO reached out to the team’s coach, Daniel “papp” Hart, for a few words about their experiences at EPIC.LAN:

EPIC.LAN 37 was our first event as a team, and for some players, their first LAN entirely. We just made roster changes a week or so before the event, leading to little practice with Atrox.

XRAVEL were placed in group B and had a strong start to the event with a 6W-1L record to show, losing only against Fraser “Frazehh” Sollom’s mix team, Psych Ward. After making playoffs, the team were matched up against familiar faces to Ducky; mrhui and Emyr “eMy” Green of eMasters, whom he played alongside during his short stint under TLR. It was a difficult battle between the two teams, with XRAVEL narrowly besting the opposition 2-1, with each map surpassing over 27 rounds of play.

This earned them a spot in the upper semi-finals, where they next faced off against another mix team, The Neighbours – spearheaded by UKCS legends Owen “smooya” Butterfield and Thomas “Thomas” Utting. Their second matchup in playoffs was an even tighter affair than the first, once again going the distance with all 3 maps, including 16-14 scorelines both for and against Ducky and his comrades – the latter being the result of the third map between the two teams, earning the smooya‘s mix a ticket into the upper bracket final.

After this deflating and draining loss, papp‘s boys only had 30 minutes before their next game in the lower bracket for a second chance at a HLTV finish in the event. They came up against a Shuaib “shoobie” Saddique-led shushgg, accompanied by none other than ex-Feenix Ryzing AWPer isaac. This mix had already garnered the status of a dark horse, completing an impressive lower bracket run against Legates Esports, K10 and Clique Esports.

Although XRAVEL took the first map with a confident 16-5 stomp, shoobie didn’t back down and IGL’d his brothers to successfully pull off the reverse sweep against Ducky and the rest of XRAVEL. They followed the classic Bo3 narrative and closed it out in overtime after a nail-biting third map on Inferno.

In playoffs, Ducky put up a respectable 76 ADR and 0.69 KPR*. While it may seem like a far cry from the standard he would typically be held to from his performances in the likes of ESEA and SCL, he was one of the team’s two top performers alongside synergii, scoring more roster-high stats for the event once more.

It was a new experience and one we all enjoyed … although, it’s fair to say we underachieved especially when you consider our ESEA and ESL Premiership form during that time. We’ve mainly put that down to being our first event and it being more of an endurance test than anything else. We quickly put EPIC.LAN behind us and set our focus on what was more important to us, reaching ESEA Advanced and having a good showing in EPS … Though we definitely took a lot out of our first LAN together, and I personally felt we played much better with much more chemistry after EPIC.LAN. – papp

Ducky and his compatriots didn’t let disappointment set in, however. The Brits took the opportunity to bolster the organisational support behind them and signed under Arctic Raptors, an organisation that looked to take fewer gambles on instability and to put their efforts and funding into a more stable project going forward.

RAPTORS CS:GO 2023

We are delighted to announce we have signed our new competitive Counter-Strike roster.

🇬🇧: @synergii_cs
🇬🇧: @wfnnnnn
🇩🇰: @zodi_cs
🇬🇧: @MoNou__
🇮🇪: @Atrox_cs

🇬🇧: @papp_cs (C)

We are extremely excited to see what the future holds 🦖💙 pic.twitter.com/OzEyaSQOBI

— RAPTORS. (@ArcticRaptorsGG) November 17, 2022

The Raptors silenced their doubters with another monumental season in Main, recording another profound 12W-2L record in the regular season, solidifying themselves as a dominant force within the division. Once again, Ducky was one of the crucial components to this success, returning to his throne as one of the dominant players in the squad by raising yet another roster-high 84 ADR in the regular season.

With the momentum we gained from the previous season, we knew we had what it takes to get out of Main … it was an important time to do it with ESEA Advanced becoming smaller, so you’d expect the next season of Main to be far more competitive. – papp

As playoffs got underway, the team had to do one better than last season’s swing at promotion in more ways than one. ESEA had announced changes to the formatting for the upcoming season, which meant that fewer spots were up for grabs in Advanced. Coming in from the second round of the upper bracket thanks to their efforts before playoffs, Ducky and the Raptors had set themselves up for success with another shot to advance into the next division of ESEA.

Arctic Raptors held themselves in high regard, and reflected this in their play. The team breezed through the upper bracket, beating BIT Esports, Enhanced Esports, and Kirikou all in a 2-0 fashion, adding to the hype with some overtime victories to boot. This subsequently secured their promotion to Advanced, finally reaching what once eluded them only a few months ago.

After not making Advanced in season 42, we all felt slightly down … but with it being our first season together, we pushed for it on our second season. Making Advanced on our second attempt felt really good. Despite it being a goal for us in our first season together, and as my first full season in Main, I did not think I would be pushing for such a goal so soon, but it worked out in the end and it felt amazing. – Ducky

The Raptors couldn’t repeat their past feats against the next opponents, falling to both Hydra Team and LODIS, ending the season with a top 6 finish in Main. Bested only by his IGL zodi, Ducky once again stood tall and posted a commendable 80 ADR to top off their Advanced run.

Arctic Raptors lock in promotion

Another opportunity for the Raptors to show their capabilities rolled around as ESL Premiership Autumn 2022 finally began. Ducky and his comrades scored a 3W-2L streak in group B, acquiring victories over eMasters, 7AM and Legates. However, due to losing their matches in groups against Into The Breach and Viperio, they were seeded low in playoffs and faced off against Endpoint in the quarterfinals. The team were no match for the 10-time EPS Champions, and were eliminated from the tournament with a 0-2 loss, placing them in 5-6th place for the event.

The Raptor’s first season in Advanced looks to be one to remember if their last few tenures in Main are anything to go off. With the recent announcement of Todd “Skeliton” Davison as their newest analyst, as well as the sky being the limit for this team of talent, the possibility of deep qualifier runs and HLTV invites are just around the corner for Ducky and his team. The Arctic Raptors are poised to leave a mark on the next UK LAN in attendance, EPIC.LAN 38 in late February.

Overall I am very happy with the position of the team, we played very well in EPS and also locked in our promotion to Advanced. We have great support from our org which we are very grateful for. Our target is to now maintain stability and to try and establish ourselves in Advanced. Lastly, we will be attending EPIC.LAN 38 and we fully expect to be in a much better position for the event to improve upon our last showing. – papp

UKCSGO asked Ducky for his “One to watch” in 2023, and why he thinks they are going to stand out this year:

Not because I’m in a team with him, but I would say zodi. He started IGLing for the first time in his first season of Main, and he is just incredible mechanically . His ability to IGL and rifle as well as he does is not something you see everyday … I am blessed to spectate him everyday and I realise how good of a player he is. I would also put forward MMS and synergii as honourable mentions, since I think both players are on track to achieve great things this year.

Why is Ducky one to watch in 2023? The future for Ducky looks very bright – as a player who is very clearly brimming with talent and skill, it is no stretch to expect a solid debut season from Ducky in Advanced. His consistent stand-out performances despite all the hardships he has faced along the way have become almost synonymous with his identity, as a part of the team both throughout his stay with both XRAVEL and now Arctic Raptors. Ducky and the Raptors will make their debut in Advanced tonight at 8:00pm GMT versus IKLA.

*As always, all stats and ratings for EPIC.LAN are organised by @Mischief_CSGO

25 January 2023 0 comment

All News Feature

One to watch in 2023: Wolfie

by meffew 2 January 2023

written by meffew

Andrew “Wolfie” Allan came from humble beginnings at the start of his competitive CS:GO career. Once a young upstart in the local scene in Scotland, now a promising sensation among even the top players in the UK.

His journey began with local teams, namely PowerYourAura and Team Penguin Overlords. At the age of 15, Wolfie marked his debut at a national level under the Aura banner by attending EPIC.LAN 26 back at the beginning of 2019 with a longtime teammate and fellow competitor of his, John “Dutchy” Holland. The team dropped out of the tournament in the group stage, chalking up a 1-5 W/L record.

Photo credits: EPIC.LAN

After an unsuccessful run in ESEA Open, Wolfie jumped ship to a roster with a wealth of experience in the olden days of UK CS, Team Penguin Overlords. Craig “cthreestar” Ewart, and Kyle “KYLEST” Stevenson were the two consistent figures in the team, who, alongside their efforts in ESEA, played regional tournaments across Scotland and picked up a win in Season 2 of the Scottish Esports League back in 2019. He continued to play alongside his fellow countrymen for the rest of the year, before deciding to continue his journey across the pond with some younger Scottish representation in the Aura camp.

Photo credits: Esports Scotland

The new year rolled around and in early 2020, Wolfie attended EPIC.LAN 29, again alongside Dutchy in a mix team. The team placed 7-8th overall at the event, notably beating a Ben “benzki” Price-led The Last Resort in the group stage – a result which prompted his eventual promotion to a spot on the roster for the next ESEA season. This didn’t last very long however, with the roster dissolving after a disappointing 5-11 record in the ESEA Season, resulting in their demotion from Inters.

After some further tenures in Aura and Hypnotic with the likes of Earl “Earl” Stephenson and Jack “Gizmy” von Spreckelsen, Wolfie‘s first big break comes in the form of Endpoint Academy, a project announced by the org in association with current ENCE Academy coach, George “Whitey” White. The project went through a lengthy selection process, however, Wolfie was ultimately decided upon as one of the players for the roster alongside fellow brits Benjamin “Klay” Hurst, Joe “dexie” Demmon, Richard “Richardb0b” Brierly, and the Dutch player Kevin “vKeMPeN” Van Kempen.

It's time to announce OUR FINAL 5 for the Endpoint.ROG Academy

🇬🇧 @Klayjamin
🇬🇧 @dexieCS
🇬🇧 @Richardb0b
🇬🇧 @XpWolfie
🇳🇱 @vKEMPeN_csgo

Congratulations 👏

🎥https://t.co/0RbAp3Zs6p #NeverStop @ASUS_ROGUK pic.twitter.com/iFX95c6pWF

— Endpoint CeX (@TeamEndpoint) April 7, 2021

The team had good success in their inaugural season of Open, where they managed to place top 4 overall, landing them a spot in Main for the next season – setting the scene for their future, and attracting the eyes of the UK scene. Unfortunately, just before his debut in Main, Wolfie was benched from the roster after a statement from Endpoint, leaving him again looking for another opportunity to prove himself.

During his time on the bench, Wolfie took some time to participate in other tournaments to keep in shape, such as the Redbull Flick 2v2 UK CS:GO Championship. This was a tournament involving the use of custom made maps, where players would contest capture points in order to generate score, awarding a round win after reaching certain amount. Wolfie, along with Cole “fredfishoil” Hardy, took the event by storm with a flawless record in the group stage, as well as impressive individual performances to power themselves through the playoffs, ultimately winning the grand finals in a 2-0 fashion.

‘grats to ThrowPogChamp, your #RedBullFlick UK Champions.

well deserved @XpWolfie @fredfishoil 👏

next stop ➡️ international play-offs for the chance to go to the Helsinki Invitational pic.twitter.com/dAEkPOQFyD

— Red Bull UK (@RedBullUK) September 12, 2021

It took a short while, but Wolfie had finally found himself a new home. This came in the form of a brand new roster, which is part of the core of the now ever-present 1PIN. Ryan “dox” Young and Oliver “leaf” Jackson, an iconic duo who date back to 2020 during their time under the Vexed banner spearheaded this roster, along with Kristian “Krs7N” Mladenov and Gizmy.

This team played under Heaven & Hell in Season 40 of ESEA Open, completing a flawless run by going 14-0 in the regular season. They fought their way through playoffs, and after a nail-biting Bo3 thriller against the Russian team SnusEaters, they came out on top 2-1 and placed 1st in the entire season of the division, landing themselves a place in ESEA Advanced for the upcoming season.

Photo credits: EPIC.LAN

With this newfound promotion, the team looked set to make a statement in their inaugural season of Advanced, however Krs7N suddently left the team for pastures new back in his home country with FATE. In response to this, 1PIN joined arms with Oscar “AZUWU” Bell, and picked up Tobias “shyyne” Sæther in order to free dox from the AWP, as well as to replace the core of Viperio’s new pick-up at the time, Gizmy – bringing us to the most notable iteration of the 1PIN roster, which made waves in the playoffs portion of Advanced in Season 41.

The team took down some notable names in their lower bracket run, such as EYEBALLERS, led by CS:GO legends and major winners Robin “flusha” Rönnquist and Jesper “JW” Wecksell. 1PIN took them down in a 2-1 fashion and went through to the next round to take on the Portuguese opposition in FTW, also netting a 2-1 victory to take them to the next round, before losing out on further opportunities after a loss to Apeks. Despite not managing to secure promotion for the next season, Wolfie certainly stood out as the most impressive performer for the squad boasting a 1.23 HLTV rating.

1PIN continued their strong strides through Advanced, regularly putting up strong performances versus worthy opposition, and retaining their spot in the league. Despite their achievements in ESEA, Kayzr League and other qualifiers, a rigorous practice schedule was slowly whittling away at Wolfie, and along with extra commitments to work, it came to the point where it was too much to keep a handle on all at once. He ultimately decided to step down from the active roster of 1PIN, citing that he wished to take time away from CS:GO to help recover from burnout, as well as other mental health concerns.

This takes us to Wolfie’s current iteration: a player who during his time away from the constant grind of competition has helped to stand in for Into The Breach in Beyond’s Summer Invitational, leading to a 2nd place finish. He also stood in for Endpoint during the ESL Premiership Autumn Championship during the group stage and partly in playoffs as well, leading to the organisation’s 11th title in the tournament. Lastly and most recently, he also took home the 1st place prize for Season 5 of Esports Scotland’s Scottish Esports League.

Photo credits: Esports Scotland

Looking forward to what’s next, Wolfie has since announced his return to CS:GO, and his prospective career is just one opportunity away from being launched into the heights of both UK and international CS. As a player very clearly brimming with raw talent, in addition to a plethora of experience throughout his journey in UK CS, it looks like only a matter of time before his next big chance comes knocking.

After a long needed break I am now gonna be actively looking for another team again! 😄
I can play any rifle roles (except IGL)
I’m available 6 days a week (This can be changed)
All links will be below 🙂 retweets are appreciated thank you guys ❤️🔥

— Andrew (@XpWolfie) November 28, 2022

2 January 2023 0 comment

All News Feature Opinion

Viperio vs 1PIN: A new rivalry

by Sampied 20 December 2022

written by Sampied

In the current competitive landscape of UKCS, there’s no doubt that Endpoint is still the best team to compete in ESL Premiership. However, if the ESL Premiership Autumn 2022 has taught us anything, it’s that even the best can be challenged.

Viperio appears to have settled into a new, hopefully long-term, home. The main core of the team revolves around the two well-known former members of UMX, Tom “arTisT” Clarke and Callum “Girafffe” Jones. Both Jack “Gizmy” von Spreckelsen and Javier “Ping” Griffiths are well known to fans of this roster, having been on the team in the past, but they missed several versions of Viperio’s current playing five due to various roster changes. The core of the team has shown stellar form throughout the year, winning events such as UKIC Beyond Summer Invitational, and SteelSeries NOVA Cup whilst also reaching the finals of Insomnia69, Kazyr League and most recently ESL Premiership Autumn 2022. Having displayed their prowess against Endpoint in a really close grand final during ESL Premiership, it’s clear that Viperio are a force to be feared.

In regards to stability, 1PIN has fared better than most UK teams this year with the core of the team being together since June of 2022, the only change made this year was when Andrew “Wolfie” Allan took a step away for a break. The team also knows the taste of success, getting numerous playoff appearances at regional events this year, and winning both the Kazyr League and SCL Season 6, the former coming against Viperio in a 3-0 fashion. A noteworthy fact to mention about 1PIN is that all their achievements have been earned without the backing of any organization which just goes to show the strong bond and resilience the team has.

Looking at the history of head to head matchups between the teams, both teams have two wins against each other, with 1PIN’s wins coming in the grand final of Kazyr League and the Semi’s of UKIC Beyond Winter Invitational, while Viperio were able to knock them out of the ESL Premiership Autumn 2022 in the semi-finals and beat them in the EU Pro League to finish 3rd.

The 1PIN vs Viperio rivalry has developed not only due to the amount of games they have played against each other recently but also how those matches have played out, with the exception of the Beyond Winter game, which was a close three map affair, the matches between the pair have not been nail biters. In Kayzr League it was a 3-0 sweep for 1PIN with only map one being close and in ESL Premiership Autumn it was a clean 2-0 for Viperio with 1PIN failing to reach double digits in either map. This only adds to the intrigue of the matchup.

This rivalry also shows just how competitive the scene is becoming at the top, with other teams like Ex-ITB, ROYALS, Dripmen, 7AM and Arctic Raptors all aiming to challenge and push each other further as we move into 2023. This raised level of competition could serve as the springboard to challenging Endpoints UK dominance, which we have already seen signs off as Viperio only narrowly lost out in the ESL Prem final to them.

Regardless, the competition between Viperio and 1PIN has been a great source of entertainment for fans, and it shows no signs of slowing down. It will be interesting to see how this rivalry develops in 2023, whether either team will be able to gain an edge over their opponent and what other exciting rivalries/matchups can the scene produce next year.

20 December 2022 0 comment

All News Feature Opinion

How fnatic’s success has fundamentally changed the perception of the UK scene

by GrimyRannarr 15 December 2022

written by GrimyRannarr

British Counter-Strike has always been on the back burner when it comes to the international stage, however, this seemingly is all changing, and the effect of this has rippled throughout the scene. fnatic, who has most notably made the quarter-finals at IEM Rio Major and claimed the trophy at Elisa Masters Espoo are led by William “mezii” Merriman and coached by Jamie “keita” Hall. They are creating a healthy culture within the UK CS scene and breaking down old stereotypes.

Before we go further, to explain the change occurring within the UK we have to first understand the old UK stereotypes. A phrase thrown around a lot is that the UK scene is a ‘Treehouse’, but what does this really mean? Notoriously, there haven’t been many high-level players, and when there have been they were not often helping players lower down the scene, forming a very tight nit group, restricting the trickle down of knowledge. This made it fundamentally hard for upcoming UK players to progress quickly within the scene.

Now leading from this theme to the modern day, is there a change within the scene? Is there still this ‘Treehouse’ culture causing a lack of progression, or is there a more unified front coming out from the UK which is embodied on the international stage by people like mezii?

Does fnatic’s success internationally have an effect on UK CS regionally?

Firstly, with the idea of the trickledown effect fresh in our minds, let’s start with the top. In August of 2021, both mezii and keita were added to the fnatic roster. They have had a rocky road during their time on fnatic, to say the least, however, now it seems that with fnatic’s success, it’s also having substantial repercussions on the UK scene as a whole.

When mezii was added to the squad, he garnered praise from the likes of Mohan “launders” Govindasamy, who in an HLTV experts article he said:

Coming into Cloud9 we had high hopes for mezii because he seemed to be a kid with a good head on his shoulders, a lot of talent, and really good reviews. If this guy was a restaurant, he would have five stars on Uber Eats. The number of people that have said good things about mezii, I would have to take off my shoes to count them.

The reason for the importance of this quote is something I want to highlight specifically, that is mezii being a role model in the UK scene which is what we have lacked historically. This marks a shift in the scene’s portrayal on an international stage.

After the combustion of fnatic’s UK core, our scene was getting pulled through the mud, but now having this key figure battling out against the best in the world gives an obvious and visual figure for players coming up the ranks to look at. Moreover, this is the first time we have had a UK player in the Major playoffs since the FACEIT London Major in 2018. Where Rory “dephh” Jackson under the Complexity banner, and Owen “smooya” Butterfield playing for the German organisation BIG both made the top eight, which demonstrates the significance of his achievement. This was then reinforced by fnatic going on and winning Elisa Masters Espoo, an A-tier event, cementing fnatic as a top 10 team in the world.

A shift from the old to the new

Having figures such as mezii and keita winning a trophy of this magnitude against some of the best players in the world means much more than just a simple trophy for the collection and money in their pocket. Their win is a sign of what dedication and application can achieve, something mezii has received plenty of plaudits for, because of which he is now regarded as a great role model for aspiring players. The scene notoriously has had to deal with bad attitudes and people being hindered in their careers by themselves, and now we have something a little different.

In an interview he did with HLTV after winning the tournament in Espoo he stated: “I came through the UK scene and I’m trying my best to put that on the map and make sure I highlight individuals, where I can, to give them the motivation boost to keep on working and get European teams to give another look at UK players.” It is easy to say things like this and not be acting upon your words but mezii does. In an interview he did with UKCSGO he mentioned the likes of Cai “CYPHER” Watson alongside Sebastian “volt” Malos.

I feel like it is really important for players like CYPHER and volt who are showing some really promising signs to continue working and not be afraid to ask questions. I know CYPHER does that, he asks me questions.

These players are now setting themselves up to be role models for other players within the scene, by having consistent achievements internationally and putting up some really impressive results. With volt playing in ESL Challenger League this past season for fnatic Rising, and CYPHER with his British team making deep runs in tournaments, such as CCT Central Europe Series 2 most recently, just missing out on the finals.

One topic that mezii touched on as well is not feeling scared to reach out. This is another shift in the attitude within our region. We have these good coaches and players succeeding but also doing it in such a manner that they are still helping and accommodating their region. Someone who we haven’t mentioned yet is GamerLegion’s coach, Ashley “ash” Battye, who was present at the Major and at Elisa Masters Espoo alongside fnatic.

ash spoke on the CS Out here Podcast, which had an episode specialised on UK CS, about how if anyone wants to message him that they are more than welcome to. This sentiment was then echoed further by the likes of Max “MIGHTMAX” Heath, the IGL for Endpoint and a key figure at the top of our scene.

Something I do not want to discredit is all the people that are deep within our scene helping out players all the time. There are so many accounts recently of people helping each other out, and offering support when needed. There are so many excellent role models that we can look up to, but the main point I am trying to make is that having these players who are playing in one of the best teams in the world is more visible. This then means people who are not necessarily known within the UK sphere, can still see someone flying the UK flag at the top. mezii is thus flying this flag with dignity and respect, both publicly and privately is helping UKCS out, and this is where the major shift for me occurs.

I reached out to Oscar “LVN” Levin the IGL of 7AM who has most recently played in ESL Premiership, qualified for Beyond Winter Invitational, and has previously travelled across the pond to play at Fragadelphia 17 for his thoughts on the topic. He said;

In general the high level players in the U.K. at the moment are doing great for the scene. Mainly in the past I feel we have had players who are playing at a high level but were giving the scene a bad reputation as well as not being good role models to look up to. Where, as now especially as an IGL myself, both MiGHTYMAX and now mezii who are both very approachable for advice and tips, can be players other aspiring IGLs can look up to as well. Not from my own personal experience but as well coaches at the high level (ash and Keita) are also great role models as well as being approachable for help as well.

Currently there is a genuine healthy ecosystem being set up, with a trickledown effect when it comes to knowledge and help. In previous years you could ask anyone the same question, and mostly every answer would be “there is simply no one to help us”, however now the environment is changing.

I think people especially since the pandemic are now progressing to build a unified scene and leaving and the players who have reached out and asked for help are now the ones doing well, rather than putting it down to “luck”, “life games” or “a Honeymoon period team”. People are not finding one single solution to magically cure all our past problems, but rather many small steps in the right direction.

I also reached out to Luke “EMPEROR” Ingram, an ex player and coach in the UK scene, currently coaching 7AM for his thoughts:

For a long time the concept of sharing and helping one another was a hurdle to many people didn’t want to jump. There was never any validations for it was purely due to ego’s or simply not wanting to seem “try hard” but with there being a “new” top end of the scene players attitudes have shifted, its multivariable as to why but from birds eye perspective its almost as if the scene’s hubris fell down a peg and is more at the mid level now hence why the teams at the top are steadily rolling forward but less names are coming up. Obviously, there is still a lot more that can be done and doors that should be more accessible but purely from the angle of players approaches the scene vs the scene from 4/5/6 years ago are totally different spaces. The biggest change to me from when I was a player to now as a coach is players although still not perfect aren’t chasing instant gratification as much.

An issue that was definitely a problem in the past is aspiring players are severely put off when known UK influencers who haven’t had their ears to the ground for a while force their opinion, which ends up being counter productive.

UKCS at an all time low

— Owen Butterfield (@smooyacs) August 29, 2022

Even in recent history, we have had players representing our scene who would do more bad than good.

Someone like smooya who has a massive following, putting tweets like this, depicts a really clear pattern of people putting down UK CS while being on the outside and not truly understanding what is happening. This then ties in with what I was talking before. Having more role models like mezii, who are constructive and use their platform to show the positives of the UK scene, is far more productive.

In the HLTV interview mentioned earlier he said, “I think it’s up to other people to say if I’m a role model but it would mean a lot to me if people did see me as that.” With him now being one of the leads of British Counter-Strike Association (BCSA) and if he continues to help people like he has and give people a platform to succeed when its offered, then I don’t see why he shouldn’t be seen as a role model.

British Counter Strike Association creation

On the 12th of December Allan “Allan” Hender alongside mezii, MiGHTYMAX and ash created the BCSA which has the aim to help UK teams. The board have already begun talking in length with eight of the top UK squads, while also making a discord where anyone can join, and anyone can ask for help to improve. Moreover, the association is also aiming to talk to tournament organisers to create a healthier environment for UK players. This on paper is a good idea, but I am cautiously optimistic about this project.

The direction I hope it takes is it does what it is intended, and actually creates a really healthy ecosystem, with a nice trickledown of knowledge throughout the tiers. On top of this, if they actually make breakthroughs with TOs then this will turn out perfectly, especially with iseries being such a hot topic at the moment.

Closing thoughts

Through all the differing perspectives on this topic, there is a clear indication that the scene is progressing. The level of competition surrounding the top teams is suddenly a lot more fierce, and we do not have these Goliaths that are standing so far above everyone else. You have teams like Endpoint who, yes have just won their 8th ESL Premiership title in a row, but it is was far closer than in previous years. With their run to victory not being as clear cut, losing to Chetz in the group stages on Ancient, one of their better maps and then narrowly closing it out against Vierpio 3-2 in the BO5 finals.

Internationally, we have more and more teams making they way up the ESEA ladder, getting HLTV appearances and playing well in European tournaments. From my perspective, with the BCSA being founded, and everything seemingly on an upwards trajectory, we should only be finding more success. Success which is being spurred on by the UK having a team like fnatic, led and coached by Brits, competing against the best teams in the world and winning international events.

Is this the most competitive UK CSGO has been?@MiGHTYMAXcsgo spoke to casters @Ne0Kai & @EU_ReTr00 after the game pic.twitter.com/qaYLZOp1fS

— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) December 4, 2022

15 December 2022 0 comment

All News Feature

Royals returning to their roots marks something important for UK CS

by GrimyRannarr 13 November 2022

written by GrimyRannarr

Royals have a deep-rooted history within the UK scene, with the start dating back to mid-2016. Jack “kpiz” Pragnell formed a rag-tag group of UK players to compete in the United Kingdom Open for ESEA Season 22. They tore up the competition, going 15-1 in the regular season and ultimately placed second overall in playoffs after falling victim to CeX in a close best-of-three. During this period, they competed in the ESL UK Premiership Summer Contender Series, where they were consistently placing high and vanquishing some of the best teams within the region.

After this good start, the squad did not want to stop there and in the next season of ESEA, after losing their opening four games, the UK squad fought their way through the adversity and booked themselves a ticket into season 24 of MDL. Granted they did not do very well with only one win to their name. It was this result that caused a momentary halt to Royals.

The name Royals lay dormant for a few years after, popping up here and there but nothing stable, until Kyle “Swaggy” Wilson came along in 2020.

The focus however had feigned away from being UK central and moved to being more international with the odd UK mix competing in UK events such as the Fantasyexpo Spring Cup 2021 United Kingdom Closed Qualifier. By large this squad was a mix competing in high levels of ESEA Main, making playoffs back to back in season 34 and season 35 till they finally made advanced. Continuing on this mentality, the squad mixed until season 39 where they got demoted to Main and began attempting to pick up the pieces. The tattered group of misfits were the last team to make it through to playoffs and ended up coming eighth overall, granting them a one way ticket into advanced the next season.

This caused a change in the mentality of the roster, they moved away from being a mix to an actual squad, at first going back to a UK core, picking up ex-Endpoint AWPer and caster Alex “Byfield” Byfield who joined Edgaras “entz” Luksas and Swaggy, however, Byfield did not last long, thus Royals returned international. Swaggy’s crew made HLTV appearances multiple times and kept a presence in the UK scene by playing in ESL Premiership, but after having a short delve into advanced playoffs they got demoted last season into ESEA Main which has caused a full reshuffle of the roster.

This then brings us to the modern day squad with only Swaggy staying alongside Andy “Mythix” Shek, who is the coach, manager and social media manager. A player we have mentioned before, entz, the IGL of the squad, has returned back to this team, after a short stint in Nexus Academy. Alongside Swaggy they started to build the roster around themselves.

Alongside the two brits, they round out their core with John “Dutchy” Holland, who has most notably played for Feenix and EKO making advanced with the original roster, alongside that playing in both regional and international LANs, claiming notably a second place in EPIC.LAN 35 losing their 11-0 lead against DUSTY. Recently, Dutchy competed at EPIC.LAN 37 with a mix labelled as EXLI-KUBAB and placed third, gifting Adam “AdamJC” Colwell his first HLTV performance.

With this UK core in place, the squad searched elsewhere in the European scene and firstly selected Timothy “tvs” Sjöberg, the fourth Swedish sniper to play for Royals, following in the footsteps of Love “phzy” Smidebrant, Aleksandar “jayzaR” Zarkovic and most recently Alex “PALM1” Palm. After helping The Prodigies to make ESEA Main last season, he is settling in quite nicely with 104 ADR across their first two ESEA games.

Lastly, as the third Serbian to play for Royals, the young gun Hebők “xavi” Xavér who is most definitely the least experienced player in the roster has come in and is showing a new depth to this roster, having the chance to really flex his muscles plus bring a really good mentality.

We were able to talk to Mythix about the aim of their rebuild:

What we’re setting out to create isn’t just a short term thing, these additions allow us to build for a long term project. We want to help these players develop themselves into top players and achieve the highest possible skill ceiling. tvs, xavi and Dutchy are all young ambitious players with a lot of potential, they believe in what we want to achieve, and the goal of Royals is very clear. To fight for first place.

Something that we touched on when 7AM was formed was how young the team was, and Royals are not too dissimilar. Both xavi and Dutchy are 19 and tvs is 20, three young players who are also coming from three very different regions and teams, that can all bring their own values to the team alongside the older and experienced players like entz.

We were also able to talk to Swaggy about the new roster:

Going back to UKCS was more of an opportunistic thing than one set in stone. When entz and I were looking to rebuild, we wanted to do things differently, as in look for players with good attitude and the correct roles and build on the rest after. We saw the chance to take Dutchy who fills our ideology and decided it would make a lot of sense to return to a UK core. After a lot more trialling we decided on finalising both tvs and xavi which also fit the way we wanted to build things. It worked fast and I think it’s largely due to how good of a leader & caller entz is. We have some early results winning ByBit (albeit with David “fnl” Mușuroiu not Xavi), and now a win over 7AM which shows promising signs outside of the practice we’ve had. I think we really have a young roster for the future that has a very high ceiling.

Swaggy has touched on the immediate success that this roster has been having, already making two different HLTV events, firstly winning $5,000 from Bybit World Series of Gaming 2022 neutralising MALCO and secondly making the semi finals of Kayzr League Fall 2022, after making it out from the group stages to firstly knock down EC Brugge, but ultimately fall to Viperio in the semi finals. Moreover, they have been competing in the ESL Premiership Autumn 2022 standing third in their group with a 2-1 score line. Additionally the squad is going to be making further HLTV appearances after qualifying for the Beyond Winter Invitational, looking to print themselves into the upper echelons of UKCS going into next year.

In other international leagues, Royals, before getting demoted from ESEA advanced last season, are currently brawling it out in Main where they are currently 2-1 after two very decisive victories. Furthermore, they are competing in the second highest division in SCL currently placed 8th with a score line of 5-2 and as seen as one of the favourites for winning this division. Lachlan “Flamboyant” Hamilton, one of the SCL casters, has said that.

Royals is one of the more experienced teams in the division and should rely on that to give them a good boost, the only team being a threat is Endangered.

Overall, it is very clear to see that this squad is doing a lot, they are grinding, playing in multiple tournaments, making consistent deep runs at such an early stage. However, playing under the name of Royals has deep rooted history and should garner respect, however, ultimately they are playing under this name because they are unorged. For over a year now Royals have been looking for an organisation that they can represent, which would give them more stability to play this game as close to full time as possible. Recently they had negotiations fall through at the last minute and a problem with lack of funding and support can seriously stunt a team’s progression.

Fundamentality, for the heights this team is wanting to reach, being a part of an organisation and having that salary is mandatory, if this doesn’t come within the next six months, it genuinely could be one of the main downfalls for rosters of this type. 1PIN are a great example, where you see them having massive amount of success, but because they have no salary, players like Andrew “Wolfie” Allan have stepped down because he couldn’t warrant playing full time CS for nothing.

So, the reason that Royals returning to their roots symbolises something important for UK CS is that it marks a period in time where the scene has multiple rosters that can compete internationally whilst not having the financial backing to sustain their success long term. Succeeding within the UK normally comes from players leaving the scene and joining EU cores, with the old Royals team being a prime example. Now with Swaggy and entz returning to a UK based team, it shows that you can succeed internationally with a UK core. However, ultimately the return of Royals should be a wake up call that without organization support soon, the UK scene will not be able to continue the growth it has had in recent times.

The Roster going into the future is now:

Kyle “Swaggy” Wilson
Edgaras “entz” Luksas
John “Dutchy” Holland
Timothy “tvs” Sjöberg
Xavér “xavi” Hebők
Andy “Mythix” Shek (Coach)

13 November 2022 0 comment

All News Feature

The Tale of Temperate: The Ultimate Underdog Story

by arnie 14 September 2022

written by arnie

The significance of Temperate’s win at Insomnia 69 cannot be lost on anyone who has followed their journey since the core came together. The team had failed to find a major breakthrough for the best part of six months, failing to make it through open qualifiers for both the Beyond UKIC cup and the SteelSeries Nova Cup UK & IRL (BLAST). Many thought that Insomnia would be the last chance for this five to show that it was worth sticking together. Coming into the tournament with a mixture of bad form and seemingly cursed by bad luck, you would be hard-pressed to find someone bold enough to have put them as the tournament’s winners. Yet they won.

The story for Temperate’s Insomnia win feels like one of those magical non-league FA cup runs, having to fight through the lower bracket and then reverse sweeping, what is widely considered, the third-best team in the UK. Everything clicked for the team and for one tournament, at least, they have shown the heights that this roster can reach. This result could well be a flash in the pan, a level that the squad will struggle to reach again in the future but it will inspire confidence in a team that has been so near yet so far for the best part of 2022. I’d like to invite you onboard to join me on the rollercoaster ride that has been Temperate’s journey since the start of the year and their breakthrough result at Insomnia 69.

The Journey Begins

The core came together at the start of the year, in January 2022. Man-Ho “mrhui” Hui and Emyr “eMy” Green would be the veteran partnership and backbone of the squad, in the vein of the long-term partnerships of Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg and Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund or Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas and Filip “NEO” Kubski. The pair played their first HLTV matches together in 2018 under 3era in the Grosvenor Championship season 1 and were reunited on XENEX (later becoming AURA) in the middle of 2021. Joining them would be former teammates Lewis “Ziimzey” Coleman and Josh “Yoshwa” Ryley. For their fifth, the team would give a chance to 19-year-old IGL Marco “MMS” Salomone who at the time had only played seven matches at the ESEA Main level.

The move came about due to Ziimzey and MMS having known each other for a number of years after going to the same school. In what would become a theme for the roster’s recruitment style, they lent into playing with a player that they knew, despite the perceived lack of experience and quality. In the space of four seasons, MMS had made the jump from Open to Main and many questioned whether it would be a step too far, especially as the IGL was brought on as a rifler, not a caller. However, in his short time within the scene MMS had developed a reputation as a hard worker, and this in combination with Ziimzey’s friendship gave him a place on the roster.

MMS was the last part of the TLR team that would become the core for Temperate

It took about a month of practice before the team signed with an org, and in signing with The Last Resort they only amped up the expectations for the roster. TLR are one of the historical organisations of UKCS. Their first HLTV entry for CSGO was at Insomnia54 in 2015, with a roster represented by a famous face in Joshua “steel” Nissan. The chance to represent a prestigious name within the scene didn’t seem to trouble the squad, as they posted some promising early results. Their first big test would be the February EPIC.LAN, EPIC35, where the team would test themselves against some of the best in the domestic scene.

Early promise

EPIC35 started off strong for the roster, the team breezed through their groups undefeated. Despite a loss to EKO in the upper bracket, the match was close enough for the team to carry some confidence into their lower-bracket run. They would be foiled by a bit of rough luck. After losing out to future finalists EKO they ran into DUSTY in the lower bracket, the Icelandic team would prove too strong for the TLR squad and ended up winning the whole event. The fifth-sixth place finish was not to be sniffed at. The team had put together an undefeated group run and lost to both finalists, not to mention it was their first LAN as a five. With a limited map pool, it would always be a tough ask to get a higher finish but it showed the promise that the lineup had.

With ESL Premiership Spring around the corner, it was the perfect time for the team to find form. EPS is the pinnacle of UK Counter-Strike. A chance for teams to battle it out for a spot at the conference league, where qualification for the prestigious ESL Pro League is up for grabs. With teams like Endpoint, Into the Breach, FAMBIT (now the EKO core), EKO (old lineup), Heaven & Hell, and ROYALS the EPS Spring season would be one of the most competitive in years. With that in mind, the team went into it expecting very little. After all, the spot was a freebie having been retained from the old AURA team. In a group with the kings of EPS themselves Endpoint, a FAMBIT roster that in 2021 had earned their first international LAN win (under coalesce), and a Heaven & Hell roster that had the core of the future 1PIN roster. The team was schooled by Endpoint and FAMBIT but an impressive 16-14 win over H&H was followed by wins over Lucent esports and NeverBrokeAgain.

This gave the squad a third-place finish in the groups and set them up with a play-off match against BLVKHVND. BLVKHVND would become a rival for the, then, TLR roster as the community would compare the two teams’ progress through the year. To add to the rivalry, the Fraser “Frazehh” Sollom-led team would spoil multiple tournament runs for eMy and co. TLR would fall 16-11, 16-9. The fifth-sixth finish meant the team would hold onto their spot for the Autumn season and whilst disappointed with the loss to BLVKHVND, it was another encouraging result.

Gaining momentum

In April they had another chance at a UK LAN. In what was one of the most stacked iSeries in recent years, with arguably the three best teams in the country, at the time, in attendance in ITB, FAMBIT, and EKO. The best the other teams could hope for would be the fourth place spot, which because of a slightly odd prize pool split would offer up £800. TLR were dealt a blow before the tournament even got underway, unable to attend with their full lineup as one of their core members eMy would be away. This led to them having to pick a stand-in, they chose Oscar “AZUWU” Bell who at the time hadn’t quite burst onto the scene in the way he has since. In fact, MMS has said he had reservations about playing with the young rifler since he was a bit of an unknown quantity.

The team had lost a key piece in their puzzle in eMy, but AZUWU’s firepower managed to help make up for it. TLR managed to fight their way to the second round of the upper bracket, but a 2-0 loss to the FAMBIT team meant they would have to pull off a lower bracket run in order to make the top-four and HLTV. Wins against Temperate and Aimerlegion led them to play EKO slayers for a spot in the top four. They required all three maps but managed to get the game over the line. Without their full roster, the team had secured a top-four finish, £800, and HLTV. Only they hadn’t, because amongst the myriad of issues that plagued Insomnia 68 the tournament hadn’t been submitted to be added to HLTV. Despite this and another super close but ultimately unsuccessful three-mapper against Oscar “LVN” Levin’s EKO, the team could once again take heart from the placement.

Switching things up

However, in May the team decided to pull the trigger on their first roster change. The team felt that Ziimzey wasn’t putting in enough extra effort outside of turning up and playing the game. Although the team were posting consistent placements, they needed an extra push to break the ceiling they had reached. Ziimzey’s removal came just at the start of the new ESEA season and without time to confirm a permanent fifth, the team decided to trial Mohamad “Ducky” Nourelden (now with XRAVEL) as a stand-in for the first set of ESEA matches. The matches went well, sitting undefeated at the top of Main whilst playing with Ducky. Despite this, TLR went a different route. Reegan “ReegaN” Ward became available after the dissolution of his former team and the team decided to pick up him up. Once again the team favoured the known quantity in choosing ReegaN, who had played with eMy before, over picking up a player they had only played with for a few games.

ReegaN was brought in to replace Ziimzey

A further blow was dealt to the team as Yoshwa decided it was time to hang up his mouse just a week later. It would not be easy to find a replacement for Yoshwa and figure out how the roles would work on the team. After assessing their options the team decided that they would move eMy to the AWP role, a big change for a player who had rifled the majority of his career. Both Rhys “Rhys” Stumbles and Harry “moshi” Raines were considered but were unsure of whether to leave their current projects. It was then that ReegaN brought up Beau “fluFFs” Newton his ex-teammate, once again a known quantity. It seemed like a no-brainer for the team: fluFF’s would fill the anchor roles, he had good experience despite his age and was a positive vocal player.

An early sign of the inconsistency the team would become synonymous with would present itself in their rocky form in the ESEA season, from 6-0 to 10-4 including a double-match day in which they lost both games. There was always going to be an adjustment period with the role shift within the team, one of the benefits of the team being built on solid friendships is that it allows for patience and understanding in a business that is usually cutthroat. eMy was still adapting to being a dedicated AWPer, ReegaN was adjusting to his newfound freedom, and fluFFs was still integrating into the system. Ultimately the team made the ESEA playoffs but missed out on being able to challenge for an Advanced spot.

Teething Troubles

The next significant tournament in the calendar for the TLR lineup would be July’s EPIC36, where the team would look to recover from their play-off disappointment by putting on a good show against some of the UK’s best talent. The roster was thrown a curveball when TLR decided to drop the squad before the tournament. The move and how it was communicated left a bad taste in the mouths of many who watched the events unfold. The team had been offered new contracts and were set to sign them before being told they no longer would be a part of the organisation. TLR’s reasoning was strenuous at best with some seemingly minor grievances, such as not sending them match times among them. The TLR squad became orgless, with a LAN around the corner and some question marks in their future.

Temperate stepped in to help the team as a temporary solution for EPIC36, and the team would go by ETERNAL PAIN in ESEA, following the trend of UK teams taking spins on professional team names. EPIC36 started as expected for the team, 4-0 in groups after their first four matches. A loss in their final group game meant they would have to play eventual winners Cai “CYPHER” Watson’s mix in the upper bracket semi-final. There was a clear sign that something was disconnected within the team when Dust2, their perma-ban, was allowed through the veto and abused by the mix team. This veto blunder was an example of one of the lingering questions about the roster. Their mental game was exploitable and, if weaponised, could damage the team’s performance.

This was maybe most obvious in the consolidation final against BLVKHVND. Temperate went 13-9 ahead on their opponent’s map pick of Vertigo, only to throw it away and lose 14-16. Then on their choice, Nuke, the team threw away match point at 15-14, after coming back from 12-14 down, and would lose in overtime 19-16. Frazehh’s massive 100 ADR performance shouldn’t be overlooked, but having sat behind the Temperate team as the maps slipped out of their grasp it was impossible not to notice some issues in the team. A lack of communication and a negative mood infected the team, it seemed like the community’s fears regarding their mental strength were coming true.

Cracks in the team were beginning to show, particularly in relation to the team’s failure to close out games and subsequent mentality issues. ReegaN was undoubtedly a talented player, but he failed to impress when it mattered, and to compound the issue his negative mindset was affecting the team. MMS has since said that after EPIC it got so bad that he was beginning to not want to play with the young rifler, that when ReegaN gets into this head space he becomes extremely difficult to play with. The team could have made a roster change, but they gave the young rifler extra time. With ReegaN making a commitment to improving his attitude and the squad being officially signed to Temperate, the team looked forward to a month of open qualifiers and another UK LAN Insomnia 69.

A month to forget

With ReegaN moving back home and eMy away, the team had no practice from 10th July-24th July. Whether it was due to this break or the continued bad luck that seemed to follow the roster, the team’s results fell off a cliff in August. In the first qualifier for the Beyond UKIC summer cup, the team started well. They breezed through their first matches but halfway through both mrhui and fluFFs couldn’t play, Ethan “EjR” Ross and James “bevve” Slinn stood in and the disruption threw the team off track. They ended up losing to XRAVEL in the qualification match. After securing the first map in the second qualifier’s final match, Temperate ran away to a 12-4 lead on Map two. Then the choke curse hit once again, as they lost twelve rounds in a row. They then lost the final map in double overtime. The Beyond UKIC cup is a huge initiative for the UK scene, being one of the few UK tournaments to have full HLTV coverage. Missing the main event was a bitter pill for the team to swallow and it set the precedent for the rest of their month.

Temperate would once again encounter some rotten luck, for some bizarre reason, the bracket for the BLAST UK & IRL qualifier was randomly seeded. Which ended up putting three of the four best teams in the tournament, not only in the same half of the bracket but in the same quarter. EKO, Temperate, and SPADE would all have to fight it out for one spot on HLTV. This misfortune was made worse by the fact that Temperate had forfeited an ESEA Main game in order to play the qualifier. The way the bracket had been put together was widely maligned by the whole scene. For a tournament of this importance, it was unacceptable for there not to have been some proper seeding. Temperate played and lost to EKO in the opening match meaning that they were 0-3 for qualification attempts in the month and, due to the FFL, 1-3 in Main.

Needless to say from the outside things were not looking good for the roster. At this point, the team had been together for long enough to expect some real growth and development. Their failure to qualify for these tournaments was a massive step backward for the team. The community started to wonder whether they needed a ‘proper’ AWPer, eMy still seemed uncomfortable in the role not able to have the kind of impact you need from the big green. There were also questions over the team’s IGL. mrhui has not traditionally been a caller, whereas, MMS has and many wondered whether this setup was limiting the team. Despite this, MMS would explain in an interview with UKCSGO at Insomnia 69, that the team didn’t consider any changes after ReegaN had committed to improving his attitude. They had faith in the lineup and the style that they played and they hoped to prove that at I69.

Shattering the ceiling

The goal was to get on stage, have a clean tournament against the teams they expect to beat, and give the big boys in EKO a run for their money. The team didn’t expect to win. It looked like old demons were once again rearing their head, after suffering a loss in the swiss stage to the ONE HAG mix. A couple of silly rounds were lost and the team’s communication dropped the players got quiet and on Ancient, one of their best maps, they ended up losing to the mix. The loss didn’t really hurt the team’s ambitions, however, the next one did. In the first round of the upper bracket, Temperate faced AZUWU’s 1fredde. Despite having the 1PIN star it was still a game Temperate were expected to win, after all, they were a team that had been together for the majority of the year. Temperate lost a very close series 2-1, in a result that could have caused one of two consequences for their tournament. Either they let the negative mindset creep back in, or they could take it as a wake-up call, learn from it and use it as fuel for their lower bracket run.

They would take the latter route and power through the lower bracket without dropping a single map. This run included revenge on both ONE HAG and 1fredde. In particular, the 1fredde game showed a massive shift in the atmosphere in the team. Temperate found themselves 14-4 down on map two, Nuke. In the past heads might have dropped, players would get quiet and the team would suffer from a lack of communication.

Not this time, and having sat behind them at EPIC during their loss to BLVKHVND and sitting behind them as they stared at a 14-4 deficit the difference was palpable. You would have thought it was Temperate 14-4 up with the way they were laughing and joking, it was a stark contrast to the sombre atmosphere during their match against BLVKHVND. Sure enough, one at a time the rounds began to stack up and the confidence grew. Even after losing a round to allow 1fredde map point, there was still a belief, almost an expectation that Temperate would come back and take it. They needed double overtime, but they managed to pull it off.

The confidence from this comeback carried into their next match, where a spot in the grand finals was up for grabs. ReegaN who had been criticised for his struggles in big games decided to break the curse. A monstrous 1.53 rating against Leicester 5 showed the potential that he had. Despite the question marks around him, eMy was also having a standout tournament for the team and ended up being the joint highest-rated player at the event for them. Everything was clicking, they were playing far above the levels they had previously shown and it had put them onto the stage. Here more questions needed to be answered though, only eMy and mrhui had been on stage before and how would the pressure affect the younger players?

eMy had a standout tournament on the AWP and was crucial in the grand final

The Final

It may have helped that EKO fully expected to win the grand final, with a map advantage, having come from the upper bracket, the odds were stacked in their favour. EKO had not long ago won an international LAN in Austria. Map one would be Nuke and after racing into a 5-0 lead, Temperate conceded control and it looked as if fears about the player’s nerves were to be founded. mrhui and eMy were dragging the team through the map and at 12-13 an accidental jump mid-gunfight by MMS, arguably, cost them the map. Despite losing Nuke, the team took confidence in how close they ran EKO and knew that if it weren’t for one or two mistakes they could have easily taken the map. It left them needing to reverse sweep in order to win.

Temperate managed 7 rounds on the T side of inferno and controlled the map on the CT side, giving them a fairly easy 16-11 win. Then it was onto EKO’s pick of overpass and MMS made up for his mistake on Nuke with an outrageous 2.15 rating, everything the Temperate team touched was turning to gold. For the first time it felt like they were getting the rub of the green, the bad mojo had been lifted, ReegaN had broken his HLTV win drought the day before and the atmosphere in the team was at an all-time high. EKO had no answers on Overpass, able to scrap together only three rounds, and all the momentum was with Temperate heading onto Ancient.

ReegaN, who would end up being crowned UKCSGO’s MVP, had been quiet for the majority of the final but it was his and fluFFs turn to step it up on the final map. Not only did the pair sport a 1.3 and 1.1 rating respectively, but they made some huge plays as well. In a chaotic final few rounds which included ReegaN pushing a smoke to steal a kill to stop an EKO execute, fluFFs sticking a defuse in a 1v1, and one of the most chaotic rounds of Counter-Strike I have ever witnessed. At the end of the round, which included fluFFs getting a double kill through smoke, eMy is left in a 1v2. The Temperate AWPer put EKO to the sword, hitting a quick flick on Tom “arTisT” Clarke to win the round and give Temperate match point. eMy doubled down with the AWP as he gave Temperate a 5v3 advantage with two quick openers in the final round. Temperate had pulled off the reverse sweep and with the 3-2 win became Insomnia 69 champions.

Champions but still questions remain

The Insomnia win capped off a tumultuous time for the Temperate side, coming into the LAN they were at their worst run since the formation of the roster. Yet, they played to an incredibly high level, beating one of the best teams in the domestic scene in EKO. All in their first ever grand final and with a smile on their faces. The win felt like a watershed moment for the team. Proving a lot of the critics wrong, with ReegaN ending his big game struggles, eMy performing on the AWP, and most importantly a positive atmosphere. It broke the ceiling that the team had been struggling to get through for the majority of the year.

Now we will have to wait and see whether this result was a temporary hot run or if it’s truly the new Temperate that we will have the pleasure of watching going forward. Temperate’s rollercoaster ride will no doubt continue, however, we can all hope that there are more ups than downs in the future.

*The team would like to give a couple of shout-outs to people that have helped them along their journey as both a team and as individuals;

William “Mezii” Merriman – Being a pro and yet offering time to respond to people and passing down his knowledge to help the rest of the scene grow.
Javier “Ping” Griffiths – For, and I quote MMS, ‘’teaching me how to play the game’’ being helpful, humble, and giving up time to give tips.
Cai “CYPHER” Watson – For spending time to sit down and help MMS, especially on T side, and for being a friend.
Luke “EMPEROR” Ingram – For offering his help when his SPADE (now 7AM) team were on break.
Harry “Moshi” Raines – For standing in for the team so many times.

Photo Credits: Insomnia 69

14 September 2022 0 comment

ESL UK Event News Feature Scene News

Communication and Rulebooks: The ESL Premiership Controversy

by Archive 7 March 2019

written by Archive

Once again, the UK Scene has had a small fire. This time, the ESL Premiership has been the touchpaper to ignite this drama. On Sunday night, Team Endpoint player Max “MiGHTYMAX” Heath released a Twitlonger listing off a number of controversies that he has seen. Yesterday, ESL UK responded with a statement of their own clarifying a number of the issues, and promising to be better.

7 March 2019 0 comment

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