EPIC.LAN 44 playoffs begun last night with them continuing over the course of the day. Keep up with all the coverage here. Written and maintained by Thomas Parker and Kai England.
Alaska continue their winning ways whilst Ross Kemp Bald continue to upset.
ALASKA have a habit of making things look easy but this match wasn’t quite so straight forward. Despite winning 2-0 ALASKA managed were made to sweat as they were pushed to their limits by CTRL ALT DEFEAT on the first map, being 6-1 down at one point they brought it back to a 16-14 victory. Fortunately for ALASKA it was back to regularly scheduled programming with map two as they cleaned up shop 13-6.
8Sins send the Icelandic hopefuls down to the lower bracket. Dusty will be seeking to reclaim the magic they found in EPIC.LAN 35 where they won the whole event. Unfortunately for Dusty 8Sins proved to be to much to handle as two reasonably close maps cost Dusty their upper bracket run as 8Sins 2-0 Dust with a 13-9 and a 13-8.
Belfast Storm had an absolute barn burner of a series where the first map went 20-22 in the favour of TLR which forced Belfast Storm to run the reverse sweep to keep their upper bracket dreams alive. Belfast Storm managed just that the series that began at 19:30 didn’t end until 23:10, by far the longest series of the first round of playoffs; not helped by a CS update between maps two and three. Belfast Storm’s tenacity showed to be strong as they managed to close out the series 2-1 continuing their upper bracket run with a match against ALASKA.
Glitchtech keep themselves alive after starting their lower bracket run against Submissive and Readable (SAR). SAR only managed to claim six rounds across 2 maps in their playoffs campaign, allowing Glitchtech to proceed with ease to their following game where they are set to clash with Viperio Academy.
Lower Bracket Quarter finals: Viperio vengeance, Dusty domination and CRTL ALT DEFEAT clinic
EPIC.LAN was alive and well this morning, despite a few aching heads from last night’s pub quiz. Shouts and screams rang around the conference centre as teams look to scare their opponents into submission.
Having been knock down to the lower bracket by ANTARCTICA, Viperio Academy looked for redemption vs Glitchtech. However, losing the first map 13-9 did not set Viperio Academy up well, especially as they threw a pivotal round having gained heavy momentum from a four round winning streak. Sometimes pushing the smoke is not the best call. Despite the tough start, Viperio Academy completed the comeback with strong team plays and the first knife kill from Shane ‘Shane‘ McGlinchey. The team have managed to stay in the fight for now, sending Glitchtech home on the last map of train with a 13-4.
NCX celebrating a round win at EPIC.LAN 44
With a tough loss against 8Sins, Dusty, previously winners in EPIC.LAN 35 continue their fight now in the lower bracket against Pigeons, a team who dispatched of Flowstate. Iceland vs UK is not the most classic of rivals but these two teams fought tooth and nail for survival. Having managed to take one map off Dusty, Pigeons have last far longer than fans expected. Dusty now face the tough challenge of Viperio Academy.
CTRL ALT DEFEAT took the heartbreak of being sent down to the lower brackets by ALASKA to heart as they dispatched of Proqfanclub in a clinical 2-0 fashion, with the latter team only able to win 11 rounds over the two maps (13-7 and 13-4).
Starting the Saturday strongly, The last Resort made quick work of Ross Kemp Bald. A closely fought 13-10 did provide hope for RKB, but TLR quickly put a stop to their dreams with an impressive 13-3 in the second map to send RKB home. Now up against CRTL ALT DEFEAT, will they be able to continue their form in the lower bracket as they look to survive?
Upper Bracket Semis: A Clash of Titans
A back and forth matchup between these two titans of UKIC, this revenge match gave us everything and anything we could have hoped for. Deagle headshots, a tec-9 clutch from Devi, clean AWPing and individual brilliance; truly showcasing what these teams can do. Belfast Storm took the first map after a closely fought first half, ALASKA seeming to fall apart. Regaining confidence in the next map, ALASKA tied up the series in a swift 13-2 domination. This form continued in the third map where ALASKA ended the first half 10-2 and then finished the best of three off with a 13-4 score line sending Belfast Storm into the lower bracket.
8Sins versus ANTARCTICA brings about another strong matchup between two UKIC teams, ANTARCTICA hope to capitalise on their good form after sending Viper Academy to the lower bracket. Map one proved to be a marathon for the players as round wins alternating resulting in a 21-19 win for ANTARTICA. Both teams playing to the top of their abilities with insane utility usages and counter-strats, enabling them to go toe to toe. With another overtime map, this time going in favour of 8Sins, and a 1v1 clutch to secure the comeback, 8Sins advance into the Upper Bracket final and send ANTARCTICA falling into the lower brackets.
Lower Bracket Semis: Survival
After a strong performance earlier on today, Dusty looked to conquer Viperio Academy in their match up for survival. Despite having high hopes and a belief they should have won, Viper Academy crash out of EPIC.LAN in a 0-2 loss. A few technical pauses throughout the game from Dusty were blamed but the Viperio Academy can hold their heads high after giving a previous winner a run for their money. Now facing Belfast Storm, will Dusty be able to continue their domination of UKIC teams, or will they finally falter?
Recently losing against CRTL ALT DEFEAT in UKIC four days ago, The Last Resort wanted to flip the written narrative and give CAD a taste of their own medicine. Unfortunately, this was not the case as CAD prevail and beat TLR 2-1 (13-6, 4-13, and 13-7).
Favourites ALASKA relegated to the Lower bracket final as 8Sins triumph
CTRL ALT DEFEAT continues their strong run here at EPIC.LAN 44. ANTARCTICA falls in the lower bracket in a 2-0 affair, across two very close maps. The 2-0 scoreline doesn’t reflect the true nature of the series but the rounds won per map tell the real story. The first map went 13-9 in favour of Jack “Sorex” Renton-Cooper and co with the second map being another close affair of 13-10. This victory sees CTRL ALT DEFEAT step just that bit closer to the finals with a match against Icelandic team Dusty this evening.
Belfast Storm are bested by the powering-up Icelandic powerhouse as Dusty continues their good form in the lower bracket. The barn burner of a series saw all three maps played over the course of four hours. Map one was a quick one for Dusty as they swept 13-6. Map two was where the series really heated up as Belfast Storm closed out Ancient 13-11. Finally, Nuke went the distance and then some as it hit double overtime just for Dusty to edge it out at the end 19-16
The highlight of the upper bracket final is 8Sins taking down tournament favourites ALASKA in an exciting three mapper. With two sets of overtime on map one and another on map three ALASKA pushed 8Sins as far as they could. Starting on Inferno, ALASKA had the upper hand leading 8-4 at the half just for 8Sins to do the exact same and push the game to 12-12. 8Sins continued their powerful resolve and closed the map out 19-17.
Nuke is where ALASKA showed their prowess. The quick 13-6 scoreline may have rattled some but not 8Sins they showed their composure and kept the pressure on 8Sins on train, the final map of the series. 8Sins started by posting 6 rounds on the bounce going 6-0 up in the series before leaking a few at the end of the half, ending 7-5.
The second half was massively back and forth with no strong string of rounds but ALASKA grabbed the seven needed to make overtime. Overtime began with ALASKA pulling ahead to 14-12 just for 8Sins to pick up the last round of their T campaign and post a flawless CT to win 16-14.
8Sins locked in on LAN.
This victory places 8Sins in the grand finals and ALASKA will have the early start in their 9am match against the winner of CTRL ALT DEFEAT and Dusty. With the lower bracket semis concluding and EPIC.LAN 44 reaching top four this places the remaining teams all on HLTV.
Your EPIC.LAN top 4 are:
8Sins
ALASKA
Dusty
CTRL ALT DEFEAT
