Stage debutants, 8Sins come into the EPIC.LAN 44 Grand Finals looking to carry on their undefeated streak. William ‘wfn‘ Maskrey and Michael ‘Prime‘ John Fury have both missed out on claiming the title despite making top three or the finals several times. Some of these defeats have been against the core four of ALASKA at previous EPIC.LANs. Taking the stage with the confidence of having previously beaten their counterparts ALASKA in a tight 2-1 battle in the Upper Bracket Finals, 8Sins look to overcome the final hurdle.
On the other side of the stage, ALASKA has a wealth of experience on this coveted stage. A veteran of EPIC.LAN, Matas ‘Extinct‘ Strumila has claimed the EPIC.LAN title six times himself with three different teams. He also won the online version of EPIC – EPIC.WAN – three times giving him nine total titles. The ex-Verdant core hopes to yet again lift the EPIC.LAN trophy this time with Jamie ‘Tree60‘ Callan, who has never won EPIC.LAN. Tree60 has made the finals twice, but unfortunately lost both times, one of which was to his now teammate Extinct. This time around, Tree60Â looks hopeful for his first win in Kettering.
Wolfie playing to the crowd after closing out Inferno with an ace
As mentioned previously, ALASKA has already played 8Sins already this tournament. Heading into this series, the two teams switched up their map vetos. As expected, ALASKA banned Mirage but 8Sins banned Nuke this time around instead of Ancient like they had before. Nuke is the best map for ALASKA and they demolished 8Sins 13-6 in their last encounter on the map.
8Sins went on to pick Inferno, a map they took from ALASKA in their 2-1 victory on Saturday. Dust2 and Train were then removed by ALASKA and 8Sins respectively. With Train being a mystery for all teams, as John ‘Dutchy‘ Holland clearly explained, 8Sins opted to ban the map resulting in Ancient being the decider. Having been the first ban for 8Sins in their last matchup, could this pick hint at some hidden strategies looking to catch ALASKA off guard?
The Game:
Opening up the Best of Three, we saw the teams battle it out on Anubis. After an initial back-and-forth first half, ALASKA seemed to gain momentum as the rounds flew by. The energy from the stage started to elevate as shouts and the occasional call out from ALASKA rang out. This pick from ALASKA was closed out dramatically with a one versus one between Dutchy and Tree60.
Tree60 celebrating after ALASKA close out Anubis
Taking the first two rounds despite a valiant showing from 8Sins, ALASKA carried their energy from Anubis onto Inferno. With this strong start, ALASKA was making quick work of 8Sins and the series looked to be a quick 2-0. However, with an impressive individual performance by wfn, 8Sins were able to gain a foothold in the game and finish the half 7-5 up. This form continued with a six-round streak and an ace from Andrew ‘Wolfie‘ Allan to end the map and tie up the series.
As the teams load into Ancient, the expectation of an ALASKA avalanche has been thrown out the window. Round after round bodies fell and tensions rose between the two teams as their screams filled bounce off the KCC walls.
8Sins hit the ground running on Ancient with Prime starting 11-0 alongside wfn also popping off with the AWP. Despite finishing strong in the last map, Wolfie struggled to get involved as he had two kills at the end of the first half. With 8Sins calling, Extinct from ALASKA picked up the phone for the first time this series and answered back with a double deagle headshot to tie the half. The tune did not change as the teams exchanged blows as the rounds came down the wire, and the score was tied 11-11. Unfortunately for 8Sins, ALASKA were not so keen on giving up their title and their experience shone as they won the swing round. And then with no money, there was nothing 8Sins could do but face the music. ALASKA closed out yet another EPIC.LAN victory, Tree60 lifted his first trophy and Extinct hit double-digit EPIC.LAN wins.
Your EPIC.LAN 44 Winners:
Mason ‘Vacancy‘ Haines
Jamie ‘Tree60‘ Callan
Tom ‘arTisT‘ Clarke
Callum ‘Girafffe‘ Jones
Matas ‘Extinct‘ Strumila
Tree60 lifting his first EPIC.LAN trophy
VRS Points:Â As the event is a ranked VRS event, the winners gain VRS points based on their performance if they have a VRS rank. 8Sins won’t be receiving any points because they currently do not qualify for a VRS rank. To obtain a rank they need to play 10 VRS games within six months to qualify for a rank. This will serve as their third game played.
ALASKA, on the other hand, will benefit immensely from a win as LAN matches are gold dust for a team’s VRS rank. The most influential thing to progressing a team’s VRS rank is getting wins on LAN, regardless of the other team’s rank. They started EPIC.LAN 44 #58 in Europe, and after lighting the trophy they sit #48, the second-highest unorged team in Europe and third-highest in the world.
Seeing how much this has helped ALASKA’s VRS rank other European teams may be attracted and travel to Kettering to compete for those elusive VRS points.
