NXT claim another UKIC title and continue their UK scene dominance. The best-of-three affair only required two maps, as the kings of UK CS sent the 28AvgAge packing in the grand finals. Despite picking up two losses in the group stage, one of which was to 28AvgAge, NXT cruised through the playoffs to win the sixth season of UKIC Division 1.
NXT lift the trophy at UKIC Season 6 Division 1 finals
Smooth sailing through the calm seas
Comfortable for NXT, like everyone expected. The scoreline over the first few rounds gave the impression that 28AvgAge might be in with a shot. 28AvgAge conceded the pistol and went on to lose the conversion, they ended up with three rounds lost after three rounds played. However, their fortune would temporarily shift and give people the impression that 28AvgAge would have a chance.
28AvgAge won three rounds on the bounce to tie the scoreline at three apiece, you’d be forgiven for thinking we had a map on our hands. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be as favourites NXT went on to concede two rounds for the rest of the map.
An electric performance from Matas “Extinct” Strumila, where he would drop a 1.94 HLTV rating with a 23 to 11 K/D would propel NXT to a comfortable 13-5 victory on the first map of their Grand Final Campaign.
Extinct locked in during the UKIC Season 6 Division 1 Finals
Choppy waters and rocky waves on the way to the finish
If map one was what was expected, map two was defying all expectations. 28AvgAge made a valiant attempt to take this series to a third map. Plenty of clutches going the way of 28AvgAge in the early stages, a trend that would continue throughout the map, saw the mix team get off to a competitive start.
The map would then seemingly go the same as inferno as the first half ended 8-4 in favour of NXT. It was at this moment that 28AvgAge would start to mount a comeback. The older mix team would win the pistol and push forward to get close to tying the game, but NXT would continue to just pull ahead even if the gap was almost closing.
Dexie says hello to the camera at UKIC division one season six finals
The scoreline then read 12-9 to NXT, match point, one round away. This was the moment that Joe “dexie” Demmon would pull off a nearly game-defining 1v3 clutch to keep 28AvgAge alive in the finals. The 1v3 would be converted into two more rounds, where 28AvgAge would make the scoreline read 12-12
Despite the momentum on their side, 28AvgAge were unable to convert that into round wins. On top of that, a stellar ancient from Tom “arTisT” Clarke, where the AWPing in-game leader would drop a whopping 2KD with 30 kills, saw NXT across the finish line and pick up another UKIC division 1 trophy.
The best of the bunch
UKCSGO’s MVP for the finals was none other than arTisT himself. Aside from the excellent carry job on the second map, arTisT provided a large quantity of opening kills as well as maintaining the highest KAST in the server.
To frag so high and have such impact is impressive in and of itself, but to do that on top of leading the team tactically puts him a cut above the rest in the finals.
arTisT shouts at 28AvgAge during the season six finals
