After an intense set of qualifiers and a highly contested duo of invites, the lineup for the premiership was completed last Friday, with the final invite being handed to GLG. The first group for the ESL UK Premiership kicks off on Monday at 7pm with four of the UK’s best teams going head to head for a spot in the offline finals. The four teams that make up the first set of games are XENEX, MALIK eSports, Perilous Rage and exceL eSports.
XENEX vs EXCEL ESPORTS
The initial games of the group will see the first of the two invited teams go up against XENEX, a team with a plethora of experience and a top eight finish at the most recent UK LAN. Despite a 7th/8th finish likely being disappointing for the team, it did represent their first event together and saw them take a map away from fm-eSports before falling into the lower bracket. In order to qualify for the Premiership, XENEX actually had to defeat the exceL (formerly Lime Goblins) side on de_cache with a very convincing 16-1 scoreline. With that in mind, exceL may be feeling a little shaky facing up to the team again, but with a bit more time to practice and a best of three scenario, they will probably be seeking to keep cache out of sight. The XENEX side also defeated hot favourites fm-eSports in the grand final of the qualifier, despite having already guaranteed them a spot, they still delivered a crushing 2-0 victory.
The exceL eSports side were permitted entry into the league through one of the two invite slots reserved for teams that impressed throughout the qualification stages. Throughout the three online qualifiers, the team managed to reach the round of eight twice and even made the semi-finals in their second attempt, beating TLR in the process but eventually falling out to XENEX. That didn’t stop them coming back into the third qualifier and making it all the way to the top eight yet again. However, despite their impressive performances, the exceL side seem to fall short when they find themselves faced with well established and more experienced teams, including their defeats at the hands of Infused and GLG in the qualification stages.
Even with the best of three format giving them the ability to tailor the maps to their advantage, exceL eSports don’t seem to have the composure required to make any form of upset in this first best of three. XENEX should be able to take a clean victory in this clash, and one would not expect it to make it to the third and final map.
Discussion: XENEX Â vs exceL eSports
 PERILOUS RAGE vs MALIK ESPORTS
Both of these two sides made the Premiership through the first online qualification tournament, with MALIK eSports coming out the victor when the two teams first faced.  In the process of qualifying, Perilous RAGE had to overcome the GLG side that went on to be invited into the Premiership, doing so in an extended best of three series that went the distance. Most recently the Perilous side participated in Multiplay’s latest insomnia LAN, where they were pegged to take a top eight finish and push some of the better teams to their limits. However, despite these expectations, their campaign through the tournament did not go as planned, seeing the Perilous side bow out of the tournament in 9th-12th place at the hands of Rasta Gaming. With this in mind, it can be seen that Perilous may not possess the consistency required to consistently sway the results in their favour.
MALIK eSports went one better at the iSeries event, managing to pull themselves through to a top eight finish to meet their seed. Interestingly enough, MALIK also fell foul at the hands of the same Rasta Gaming side that dispatched Perilous, with a less convincing scoreline. Through their qualification series the MALIK eSports side appeared to have a relatively easy run, even taking a straight forward 2-0 win over popular mix team Girls Generation.
With all of this information at hand it is easy to see that this probably won’t be a landslide victory for either side. Instead, it is fully expected that this match will require the full three maps and be down to the wire on each occasion. Without seeing how the teams perform on the day and the choices of map, calling this game either way would be difficult.
Discussion: Perilous RAGE vs MALIK eSports
That wraps up our brief preview of the opening games of the ESL UK Premiership Group A. A subsequent preview will be published ahead of the conclusion of the group this coming Tuesday, as well as similar content for group B next week.
