After another exciting season of ESL Premiership, four teams emerged from group play to fight it out for their share of the £12000 prize pool. The finals saw two BO3 semi-finals followed by a BO5 final.
From Group A, Fish123 topped the group only losing one match to Team Endpoint. Endpoint finished second in the group after losing to Fish123 and taking a surprise 16-3 loss to London Lynx.
From Group B, Wind and Rain finished first in the group with an unbeaten regular season. The rest of the group was very tight with WEHAWT edging out the competition to finish second and qualifying for the finals.
Semi Final 1
The first BO3 semi-final was Fish123 vs WEHAWT. The line-ups for the two teams were as follows:
| Fish123 | VS | WEHAWT |
| Konstantinos ‘tsack’ Theodoropulos | Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett | |
| Adam ‘ec1s’ Eccles | Damian ‘derciak‘ Slaski | |
| Joey ‘CRUC1AL’ Steusel | Fodor ‘fleav’ Levente | |
| Tramaine ‘stan1ey’ Stanley | Conor ‘conoR’ McCool | |
| Kia ‘Surreal’ Man | Nico ‘nicoodoz’ Tamjidi |
The first map Mirage and was the pick of FISH123. A very close first half left Fish123 up one round on their switch to the Terrorist side. Their T side looked strong and they closed out the game 16-12 to give themselves a lead in the series.
The second map was Train as selected by WEHAWT. The WEHAWT side looked very prepared on this map winning 12 rounds on the less favourable terrorist side. The deficit had the Fish swimming upstream during the second half but ultimately, they got swept away losing 16-4.
The final map was Inferno. In a complete domination Fish123 won this map 16-0 and took the series 2-1 over WEHAWT. They would be waiting for ex-Wind and Rain or Team Endpoint in the final.
Semi Final 2
The second semi-final was ex-Wind and Rain vs Team Endpoint. The line-ups were as follows:
| Ex-Wind and Rain | VS | Team Endpoint |
| Aaron ‘frei’ Frei | Max ‘MiGHTYMAX’ Heath | |
| Tom ‘jenko’ Jenkinson | Thomas ‘Thomas’ Utting | |
| Travis ‘L1NK’ Mendoza | Robin ‘robiin’ Sjögren | |
| Hector ‘HECTOz’ Jensen | Reece ‘Puls3’ Marrs | |
| Christian ‘rezex’ Bjerregaard | Joseph ‘Luzuh‘ Loose |
The first map was chosen by ex-Wind and Rain who picked Mirage. Surprisingly it was the ex-Wind and Rain side who looked the weaker on their map pick. A comfortable 12-3 T half for Team Endpoint led to a 16-8 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.
Team Endpoint picked Dust2. They swept aside ex-Wind and Rain in a similar fashion to map one. They won 16-7 giving them a 2-0 series victory and a place in the final against Fish123.
Grand Final
The final was a BO5 and saw both teams from Group A face off for the £4700 grand prize. The lineups were as follows with keita subbing in for ec1s halfway through the series:
| Fish123 | VS | Team Endpoint |
| Konstantinos ‘tsack’ Theodoropoulos | Max ‘MiGHTYMAX’ Heath | |
| Adam ‘ec1s’ Eccles | Thomas ‘Thomas’ Utting | |
| Joey ‘CRUC1AL’ Steusel | Robin ‘robiin’ Sjögren | |
| Tramaine ‘stan1ey’ Stanley | Reece ‘Puls3’ Marrs | |
| Kia ‘Surreal’ Man | Joseph ‘Luzuh‘ Loose | |
| Jamie ‘keita’ Hall |
Map 1 was Inferno and was selected by Fish123. A very close match saw Fish edge out the victory in double overtime. They took a 1-0 lead in the series.
The second map chosen by Team Endpoint was Dust2. Even though Endpoint had shown their hand and played the map in their semi-final, Fish123 were unable to stop them and got completely dismantled. Team Endpoint won 16-1 and evened up the series.
Next up was Cache, selected by Fish123. Both teams had strong Counter Terrorist sides on this map but it was Team Endpoint that edged out the map 16-13 with their more clinical terrorist play.
The fourth map was Overpass which was the choice of Endpoint. It was clear to see why they picked this map. The team looked very comfortable and cruised to a 16-7 victory. This final map win gave Team Endpoint the series victory 3-1 and crowned them as the ESL Premiership Champions.
🏆🏆🏆 @ESLUK PREMIERSHIP 2018 CHAMPIONS!!! 🏆🏆🏆
❌Inferno 19-22
✅Dust2 16-1
✅Cache 16-13
✅Overpass 16-7We solidify ourselves back at the top of the UK scene, onward and upward from here 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/PMfPVuf3sk
— Endpoint (@TeamEndpoint) August 12, 2018
Team Endpoint are your ESL Premiership Summer Season champions. They secured themselves the £4700 grand prize and spot in the ESEA Mountain Dew League Season 29!
Final Standings:
1st Place – Team Endpoint
2nd Place– Fish123
3rd/4th Places – ex-Wind and Rain
3rd/4th Places– WEHAWT
With everything going on, why not make sure you keep up to date with the UKCSGO website, through our Twitter & Facebook pages, so that you keep clued up on the UK Counter-Strike scene.
