Since the introduction of the VRS, many teams have been scrambling to gain points, but not every team have been so fruitful. Some like NIP, Passion UA, NRG and others have been travelling to local LANs across the world that are open to enter and provide a large amount of VRS points. Many have theorised that EPIC.LAN would become a hub for European teams around Tier-2/3 who are in search of these sacred points. Now, for the first time in 2025, Kettering will be graced by a European team coming specifically for VRS points: Preasy.
The Danish team have struggled since the highs of making the PGL Copenhagen Major RMRs last year, with five-time major winner Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen. Last year, Preasy released their roster following the organisation’s failure to sell and their own inability to qualify for the Copenhagen Major. The organisation did remain supportive of Danish grassroots Counter-Strike as they promoted their academy team, Preasy Rising. A year later, Prasy have rebuilt and is once again looking to return to their former level.
Over the last year, the academy team once promoted started to get fizzled out with the likes of Lukas “Beccie” Bauder Balcells transferring to Sashi, the only player that remains is Christian “Griller” Vejlgaard Skou Sørensen. He is not completely alone, however, as Asger “AcilioN” Larsen, who was originally coaching, is now back on the server.
Preasy has had many people cycle in the roster over the last couple of months, including the likes of Patrick “Patti” Larsen, who once led ECSTATIC to a 12th-14th finish at the PGL Copenhagen Major.
With the rebuild complete, Preasy have finalised their roster with accomplished Danish player Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen and newcomers Sander “qx” Thomas and Thomas “SinK” Laursen. Interestingly enough, at the time of writing, SinK only has one recorded HLTV game, a sharp contrast to some of his older teammates.
New European competition seeks to dethrone PERPLEXITY at EPIC.LAN 45
Preasy completes their roster with a legendary name, Philip “aizy” Aistrup, making his coaching debut with Preasy. aizy‘s lengthy playing career was dotted with Tier-1 teams such as Dignitas, G2, FaZe and North. It was with the latter team that he lifted four notable trophies, including DreamHack Masters Stockholm in 2018. Now he looks to “apply his expertise and experience” with this mix of young and experienced players.
With this new roster, Preasy have struggled to find tangible success as they have bombed out in Tier-3 tournaments like CCT Season 3 Europe Series 3 Closed Qualifier and European Pro League Season 25. Because of this, they are ranked #120th on the Valve ranking for Europe.
Therefore, because of their VRS struggle, UKCSGO confirms that Preasy will be in attendance for EPIC.LAN 45, the first time a Danish core has played at an EPIC.LAN since EPIC.LAN 28, nine years ago. Back in 2019, British organisation Peak Esports brought over their Danish team to Kettering. Peak held their own, and admirably finished 4th, losing to The Last Resort. Prior to that, at EPIC.LAN 18 in 2016, rodgodflode travelled to Kettering to play alongside UK broadcaster Jacky “Jacky” Powers. He was joined by the likes of Alexander “alexsomfan” Nielsen, who has gone on to be the assistant coach of Astralis, now working with Sashi.
Unfortunately, rodgodflode didn’t do very well as they placed 9th-12th. Preasy will be looking to do a tad better than that and fly the Danish flag high in Kettering, while achieving some coveted VRS points next month.
So far as mentioned, Preasy is the only team coming to EPIC.LAN for VRS points. If Preasy does well and this gives them a big boost in their VRS rank, other European teams might get the signal that EPIC.LAN is the new Copenhagen Games, and it might be a pivotal part of the European ecosystem.
Even at EPIC.LAN 44 UKCSGO can confirm that NIP were wanting to play, but were unable to get a ticket because they reached out only a couple of days before the tournament started. The penny has dropped for some teams, but EPIC.LAN could be attracting some big names in the future.
Currently, the best regional teams have signed up for EPIC.LAN 45 with both UKIC Season 6 Division 1 finalists, PERPLEXITY and 28AvgAge, set to play. Alongside these two, 8Sins will be vying for the win at EPIC.LAN 45, as they have been the runners-up to both UK LANs this year.
