The EKO Esports squad got life under their new organisation off to a roll with a LAN win at the alpenScene Road to LEVEL UP offline finals in Salzburg, Austria. Earning their spot at the LAN finals after battling through the international qualifier beating Team Montecarlo in the final to win a spot in the offline semi-finals. With a win at the LAN finals, the EKO players pocketed €3,200 but, arguably more important for the young side, gained experience playing on a stage at an international event.
After securing a swift 2-0 result over Sissi State Punks in the semis, the final proved to be a tougher proposition for the UK side. A tough 16-11 loss to the Austrian side yunggodz, aka murders2002, on Mirage, meant the team would have to battle back on Nuke to force a title-deciding third map. Starting off on the harder T-side EKO managed to post a 10-5 lead at the half giving them a sufficient lead to close out the map 16-8.
The deciding map would be Vertigo and EKO struggled to carry the momentum from Nuke over to the final map in the first half, leaving themselves a five round deficit to overcome if they wanted to be crowned champions. Whatever was said at half-time worked a treat as the UK team put up a resolute defence on the CT side allowing just three rounds to slip in an excellent second-half comeback, securing the win with a 16-13 finish.
This is the first success for the new roster having recently lost Sebastian “volt” Malos to Fnatic Rising and also losing long-standing member Javier “Ping” Griffiths; replacing them with James “Mad” Debono and Jack “Gizmy” von Spreckelsen. The win will no doubt be a massive boost of confidence for the young side and suggests a bright future for the team. EKO will hope to take this success with them as they fight for another championship in the SCL Challenger playoffs where they have been drawn against P2N in the round of 16.
Header Credit: EPIC LAN
