ESL UK Premiership Promotions Run Down

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Stream Sniped

kioShima, PUNCHRULLE, pt, Nightmare, Onscreen

Recent Achievements to Date:

• ESL UK Premiership Qualifier #2 (March 2016) – 2nd Place

Participation in Other Leagues:

• None

One of the more talented mix teams in this tournament. They of course house the incredibly talented former EnVyUs (and still under contract) Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey. This mix managed to do well throughout the qualifiers, with a 3rd/4th finish, 2nd placed finish and then 5th – 8th finish. They actually lost in the final cup to Perfect 5/7 who beat them 16:9 in that match. This team managed to gain 160 points and finished second overall in the standings after three cups.

Whilst it is a mix team, like fish123, they really have nothing else to go on in the way of online results and LAN results. Housing a current professional player does them wonders, but it doesn’t mean they will get through to the group stages because of the named player they have on the lineup. It also isn’t just the Fabien show, they have former CGS winner, Pete “pt” Wright on the lineup, and I believe, former professional Battlefield player Kenneth “PUNCHRULLE” Persson on the lineup. They have some serious firepower on this mix.

However, there is one considerable weak link to this lineup, and that is Craig “onscreen” Shannon, he does have his moments, but he can be such an infuriating player to spectate. I know he is one of the highest profile players in the scene, his streams are constant fun to watch, and he has a personality that resonates to most people in the scene, however his lust for Krieg power plays and his lack of ability within the current meta can be a sign of weakness within the lineup. It certainly would be a weakness that most players will try to exploit.

With the firepower they have on the team though, I should be seeing this mix team somehow manage to make the Group Stages, which is incredibly strange because of my reviews of both The Working Men & fish123 so far. I just feel their lineup should carry them through.

Prediction: Good Chances – Group Stage

Team uFrag

adamxoxo, Powell, HypeIzBack, Yoshi, xfp

Recent Achievements to Date:

• insomnia55 (August 2015) – 7th – 8th
• insomnia56 (December 2015) – 5th – 6th
• UK Ascending (January 2016) – 1st Place
• GAMEFACE UK Cash Cup #1 (January 2016) – 1st Place
• GAMEFACE EU Cash Cup #1 (January 2016) – 1st Place
• epic.SEVENTEEN (February 2016) – 3rd Place
• insomnia57 (March 2016) – 9th – 12th

Participation in Other Leagues:

• ESEA Season 21 Open League – 14 Wins 2 Losses
• ESEA Season 21 Playoffs – 2 wins from 2 games.
• ESL Open League – 5 Wins 0 Losses
• ESL Open League Playoffs – 1 win from 1 game.

Team uFrag didn’t actually manage to qualify, so of course, some people will be wondering how they have managed to bag themselves a spot to the Promotions Tournament. Well it’s incredibly simple, one of the teams (nerdRage) didn’t actually reply to the email sent out to confirm their participation. Of course, nerdRage folded post insomnia57, and Infused became nerdRage, whilst James “redsnK” Littlewood managed to create a team under Team Infused.

This of course meant that the final team to move into the qualifiers was Adam “adamxoxo” Rotherham’s lineup from Team uFrag. I’ve had a lot of talk that this team is “overrated” and that they are “incredibly shit”, however they really are not, although you could point out their 9th – 12th finish at insomnia57 really doesn’t help their case here. Since insomnia57, they have been forced into a small roster change, because Ashley “ashhh” Battye decided to step away from competitive CS, whilst he regains his passion for the game. Team uFrag whilst haven’t made it official have quietly picked up Tramaine “xfp” Stanley (it should be noted that Tramaine is currently on “trial”). He was one of the players who participated in the qualifiers with the team called Team Sex and was one of their star players in that lineup.

Adam has often cited that online results should never really be counted, he just simply doesn’t enjoy online matches as much as he does when he is at LAN (as you can see in the picture below), however they will have to be at their absolute best this weekend to make it into the Group Stages. I’ll be honest though in theory, teams should realistically overcome mix teams, however if they get a tough path in the Promotions Tournament, I could see them struggle to make it.

Prediction: Good Chances – Group Stages.

Molotovs n Marshmallows

EB, maxyb, fearLess, chron1c, BeRTY

Recent Achievements to Date:

• insomnia55 (August 2015) – 9th – 12th
• insomnia56 (December 2016) – 5th – 6th
• UK Ascending (January 2016) – 3rd Place
• insomnia57 (March 2016) – 4th Place

Participation in Other Leagues:

• None

Can we take a moment to probably congratulate the only team (it seems) to not be affected by the continuous roster shuffles and collapses of certain teams. This team is now entering the forth month without a roster change. For the UK, it seems like this bucks the trend that is set by other teams, and as always I am incredibly impressed by this feat.

Moving onto the team, this team has all the capability of making it easily into the Group Stages and dare I say it, even push for a playoffs spot later down the line. They quietly managed to navigate themselves to forth at insomnia57 with some really impressive performances and some really notable victories too against teams such as Team CeX & nerdRage. They eventually lost to Ian “Immi” Harding’s side fm-eSports, however that meant that MnM had beat their seed of 8th and placed 4th. Whilst the team will quite clearly point out they were confident of placing in the Top 4, many outsiders felt this was a great underdog story that can be told for many years.

Considering their lack of roster changes, they are probably heads on favourites to get out of the Promotions Tournament, as we saw demonstrated at insomnia57, they are incredibly well equipped and can hold their own. They also seem to be a very resilient side who won’t lie down even if they were 15:5 down or something. I feel this is their moment to shine, and they need to grab this with both hands.

Prediction: Excellent Chance – Group Stages.

Perfect 5/7

NipXe, Rob4, lRl, JDD, KJEMS

Recent Achievements to Date:

• ESL UK Premiership Qualifier #3 (March 2016) – 2nd Place

Participation in Other Leagues:

• None

The final team to review is one I had never ever expected to see. They had a poor Cup #1, did ok in Cup #2 and then managed to somehow come out of nowhere and absolutely demolish the field in Cup #3. Not sure whether that run was helped by the fact that insomnia57 had just finished for many teams, but they managed to get the necessary points over Team uFrag to determine they would finish in the Top 5 and be here in the Promotions Tournament.

This team is a rather interesting team to say the least. From my talk with their manager, the core three of the team have been together for just over 18 months, which is an incredible feat, they regularly practice and what they feel, is that the UK Premiership is an opportunity to make a name for themselves within the UK. According to their manager, Josh “JDD” Denham who was recently recruited to the team, is only standing in for the team currently whilst they find a permanent replacement.

They have a rather talented lineup, with Nikolay “NipXe” Zhelev leading the team, it should be interesting to see how they fare. If given the chance, a favorable route then I could see these guys punching above their weight and managing to make the Group Stages. It should be noted though, if they play as they did in the final cup, where for the much of the first map against MnM, they had them on the ropes a bit with being at map point at (I believe) 15:9 before eventually losing in Overtime, this team should get through. I’ll be interested in monitoring their progress this weekend.

Prediction: Slim Chances – Group Stages

You can follow all the action in the Promotions Tournament through the dedicated stream channel of ESL CS:GO UK, and the brackets page here on Play ESL. Don’t forget to check out our friends over at ESL UK and their Pro website for all the latest news regarding the UK Premiership, on there you can find all previous seasons media too. The UK Premiership Promotions Tournament kicks off at 2pm BST on Saturday.

Who will you be rooting for this coming weekend, why not let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget we will be covering all of ESL UK Premiership this season with interviews, prediction articles, live event coverage and other amazing stuff planned in the pipelines. Why not stay tuned to UKCSGO.com for all your latest news and coverage on the UK CS:GO Scene.