The Gfinity UK CS:GO Championship final has been long awaited, with the main body of the tournament initially taking place towards the back end of the blazing summer month of July. Since then, the teams involved have both undergone a number of changes. The Infused line-up has been shaken a few times in the months gone by, even at times attending events purely as a mix. However, since then it appears the once transient roster has now stabilised with a roster that looks not too dissimilar to the one they originally made the final with.
EZSkins, once dubbed the UK’s new superteam, have also made a change. They made the decision to wave goodbye to Josh “mole” Rowley in exchange for another UK veteran, George “hudzG” Hoskins. The move even prompted the feature article published last weekend, entitled “EZSkins, the set-up for Success.”
hudzG gained plenty of experience early in CS:GO.
Even since the tournament, a number of the teams that the finalists managed to make light work of have also undergone changes. It makes it difficult to peg who is where in the current landscape of British Counter-Strike, but one thing is for sure: Despite the changes within both camps, the two Gfinity finalists are firmly at the top of the UK CS:GO ladder, with only a few competitors biting at their heels.
Way back in July, both teams started their campaigns in the Gfinity UK Championship with match-ups against unseeded opponents, easing them in gently into the competition where one team would eventually take the whole £5,000 prize purse home, whilst the loser will be left with nothing. With both teams taking 2 – 0 victories in both the first and second rounds before meeting more noteworthy opponents, at this point there was nothing between the two names.
At this stage, the numbers were whittled down such that the top eight of the tournament consisted of almost exclusively familiar faces, ones that would be expected to perform. Team Infused found themselves up against the Molotovs and Marshmallows side, at the time skippered by Tom “vertiGo” Rockliffe, who did not pose a threat to the eventual finalist side. Likewise for EZSkins, who took their quarter-final victory against the reincarnated mix team of Fish123. The semi-finals, though a tougher test for the teams, went much the same way, with a former iteration of CAZ eSports falling prey to the EZSkins side, whilst the then Choke Gaming (now fm-eSports) roster were bested by Infused.
And even now, at the finals of the event, it is too tough to call who will eventually be five-thousand pounds better off. The Infused side have been floating around the top of UK CS ever since the British Isles started taking the game more seriously, and though the roster has gone through a number of changes, familiar experienced faces remain in the roster that will be hungry to add another trophy to their case. Their opponent EZSkins have nothing to prove here, unless you count showcasing their new pick-up. Despite not having attended as many events as the Infused side, the mix of players and their history pre-equip this team with a level of gravitas. They are still the British side to have made the biggest mark in a “top” level event, by taking down Aussie alphas team Renegades.
Either team could take this, and I don’t think either really think a win here will mean any more than a £5,000 cheque and a few more bragging rights. In the grand scheme of things, whilst the cash prize as this event is bigger than other events this year, a two horse race is all that remains. Both teams likely want to show their worth on a bigger scale, and this is merely a stepping stone.
