QUBLAN did not stand still from its previous instalment in its second year. The two-day LAN debuted a new Esports facility as well as a new format. The changes reflect a university and a group of passionate students who see the potential in investing in Esports in the long term. Run by the QUB Esports Society, local Counter-Strike players and admins were consulted to plan this year’s QUBLAN, which felt truly catered for CS. The result was an event that satisfied its players and produced more than twice as many total maps played as its previous iteration. However, the ambition displayed at QUBLAN 2024 may go beyond a single weekend.
Queen’s University Belfast hosted QUBLAN for the second year running.
The new esports facility impresses.
QUBLAN 2024’s stand-out feature was its venue – the soon-to-be-opened ‘Reboot Café.’ The dedicated esports and boardgame space will be familiar to Queen’s University alumni, having temporarily housed the Speakeasy Students’ Union bar from 2019-2022. When faced with the question of what to do with the space, the university reflected on the benefits of in-person gaming and decided to double down on its investment in esports.
“We’re trying to promote Esports. The University has had an Esports program for a while, but the past year or two we’ve really tried to push it. It’s a very social thing for the students – gets them out of their dorms, gets them meeting together. There’s a competitive element to it. It all feeds into the student experience and well-being.” – Neil Lowry, Senior Systems Analyst: Project Leader Infrastructure & DevOps at Queen’s University Belfast
Starcraft II, League of Legends, and now Counter-Strike LANs have acted as test events for the facility, which boasts 30 high-end PCs fitted with RTX 4080 graphics cards, 14700k processors and 240hz refresh rate gaming monitors. Additionally, the downstairs space provided a viewer experience free to the public to watch the games. Upon seeing the set-up at the event, the players were like children in a sweet shop – remarking on the power of the PCs and the buttery smooth experience of using them.
“I’ve been comparing it to the Astralis Nexus gaming cafe in Copenhagen. It feels quite similar… it’s an incredible venue. It’s something that we just don’t really have in Ireland.” – Adam “Incipiens” Conway
The late decision to change the event to fully provide computers proved to be a hugely popular one with the players, making the event easier for players who would have otherwise faced logistical nightmares to get their rigs to Belfast — No Idea’s Tom “arTisT” Clarke told UKCSGO that the non-BYOC policy enabled his team’s attendance at this year’s QUBLAN. The change to fully non-BYOC may have come too late for some this year, but QUB have committed to the new model, opening up the possibility for teams from further afield to attend in the future.
“It makes me proud this is where it’s happening… This is one of the best if not the best non-BYOC I’ve ever been to. We’ve been to a few over the years in Grosvenor Casinos in conjunction with EPIC.LAN. This is better than that. That was very popular in the UK. If you asked people who participated in those events, they speak very highly of them and would like to see them return — as would I. But this is more impressive and it’s better.” – Ciaran “biscu” King
“Some people have travelled quite far so make it worth their while.” – Adam “Incipiens” Conway
The format of the competition has also changed this year. The eight-team event featured two, four-team groups playing round-robin groups in best-of-three contests. The group results then dictated the seeding for the eight-team playoff bracket on the second day of the competition.
“I think I overheard someone say at minimum you play eight maps if you lose [every match] 2-0. I mean that’s a lot of maps. And it’s £35. and you’re playing eight maps on LAN. I mean, it’s definitely worth it. So I think the format to get everyone to play as much as possible is perfect for this type of event.” – Tom “arTisT” Clarke
The format meant that every team played, at minimum, four unique opponents and allowed rosters to test themselves against all manner of opposition – from pro players, to collegiate veterans, and enthusiastic casuals. Every team was also guaranteed to feature on the QUB Esports stream which broadcast the event with live at-event casting from Jan ”Oroblanco” Biernacki and Ronan “Ro” Monaghan. QUBLAN therefore offered value for money, fantastic equipment, and an exciting LAN experience for its players.
A look behind the scenes at the Queens University Belfast LAN 👀 pic.twitter.com/sExU58xbOA
— UKCSGO (@ukcsgo) June 22, 2024
Teething issues.
As is classic for LAN events, the start of the action was delayed by network issues, resulting in the first day running for over 13 hours. The hero of the day was player/observer Adam “Incipiens” Conway, event organiser of GamerFest and former collegiate IGL. The Irish tech wizard was taken away from his playing PC to help solve multiple hiccups. Although Incipiens was happy to help, it was suggested that the event could benefit from a dedicated experienced server admin to allow participants to focus on their game.
There were numerous networking issues and technical problems that we kind of ironed out as they came. It’s growing pains always, especially for what is a new venue. These things will happen. And thankfully, we got on track and for the most part, I wanted to get back on schedule and things are going well today. – Adam “Incipiens” Conway
Once a stable solution was found, the rest of the first day and the full second day ran smoothly. The nature of student societies is that individual members will only stay for a few years, therefore creating a sustainable way to provide server support will be key to running future events.
Server issues delayed the start of the proceedings
Community and competition.
With the teams finally in the server, the action and the noise began to ramp up. Clutches brought raucous cheers, knife kills from No Idea brought laughter from players and casters alike, munchbunch decided to wage psychological warfare on their opponents by barking like seals after round close wins while Sean’s Angels even adapted football chants into their own bespoke encouragements/insults. Faced with improbable odds against strong opposition, some of the teams sarcastically cheered their round wins.
“This is a LAN where it’s all the same kind of community feel as a ‘Bring Your Own PC’ LAN, except you didn’t have to bring your own PC and that’s really it. It’s Best of Both Worlds.” – Adam “Incipiens” Conway
Overall, the contest followed the expected strength of the teams, with only Mud Monkeys securing victory against higher-ranked opposition resulting in a tantalising playoff bracket which was set to rank up, round by round. No Idea, spearheaded by Verdant’s Extinct, arTist, and biscu, were clear favourites before the event, but the equally strong group performance from munchbunch made the room take notice. Composed of the former QUB collegiate team, two members – Conor “Conzor” Martin and Thomas “Trill” Carson – had been members of the QUB Six that won the Legion Collegiate Spring Series 2022, contested by all major Irish college and university teams.
| Group A | Group B | ||||||
| Pos. | Team | Map W-L | Map +/- | Pos. | Team | Map W-L | Map +/- |
| 1 | No Idea | 3-0 | +6 | 1 | munchbunch | 3-0 | +6 |
| 2 | Sean’s Angels | 2-1 | +2 | 2 | PadgeyWadgies | 2-1 | +2 |
| 3 | Mud Monkeys | 1-2 | -3 | 3 | Apex Predator | 1-2 | -2 |
| 4 | ThunderFusion | 0-3 | -5 | 4 | Timmy’s Daycare | 0-3 | -6 |
In the playoffs, the pattern continued as No Idea, munchbunch, and Sean’s Angels breezed through to the Semis as The PadgeyWadgies took a close 2-1 series victory versus Mud Monkeys. Matching expectations, No Idea and munchbunch showed they were a level above the competition in 2-0 wins in the Semi-Finals.
Their meeting in the Grand Final became a highly anticipated event and it did not disappoint as it proved to be a fiercely competitive best-of-three. No Idea’s knife attempts and gimmicky boosts, seen in other series, were replaced by meta utility and cleverly calculated crossfires as they stole munchbunch’s pick of Vertigo, 13-9.
QUBLAN allowed room for audience members at the venue
As the series moved to No Idea’s pick of Nuke, munchbunch elevated their level again to the delight of the local Queen’s University crowd, securing five match points on their T-side. However, No Idea’s experience proved to be the difference in the series as they fought back round by round, twice securing overtime when map-point down. At 18-16 to No Idea, Extinct and arTisT combined to pull off the retake and claim the QUBLAN 2024 trophy. As the headsets came off, arTisT let out a victorious scream. Afterwards, the team could be heard discussing how hard they were pushed on the map, which made victory all the sweeter for the Irish mix.
Extinct, a runner-up at the last QUBLAN, expressed his joy at his team’s victory and was full of compliments for the runners-up:
You know, lost the last one but happy to win this one with the boys, got my brother [Flash] the first LAN. Feels good… [munchbunch] caught me completely off guard with how well they played. They played really well, even their clutches they won they played really well, aim was on point… Man, they can compete. If they keep up that form, and keep playing that well and continuing to improve they’ll have no issue playing in the UK scene. – Matas “Extinct” Strumila
No Idea celebrate their QUBLAN victory
A great time, and a promising future.
After the trophy presentation, players and organisers thanked each other, shared a few jokes, and planned their evenings. There was palpable pride (and relief) in the young group of admins that their event had been so successful. A sense of optimism shone through in the unusually sunny Belfast day. Considering the positive feedback for this year’s event, the attention it garnered on social media, and the expanded team list for future years, one couldn’t help but feel the potential in the event. No Idea player, Verdant Coach, Ciaran “biscu” King believes the event has created a foundation to attract some of the top players in the UK:
“I know there’s plenty of people in the UK now that they know the event is going on by word of mouth and seeing on twitter that it’s happening they’re going ‘Why didn’t we go? I mean 30 quid to fly over and it’s not BYOC. Happy days. A weekend in Belfast and I get to play a LAN.’ It sounds like a great time because it is!”
With that in mind, the young members of the Queen’s University Belfast Esports Society may well turn out to be vital contributors to the UK and Ireland Counter-Strike scene.
