At the end of last year, the UK and Irish CS community was hit with the news that ESL Premiership, the biggest domestic competition, would not return after the Autumn 2023 season. Fortunately, other tournament organisers are stepping up to cover the shortfall, and Tradeit is sponsoring one such event starting this weekend.
The Tradeit.gg UK Masters is a 16-team single-elimination event. The online portion takes place over the next two days and is scheduled so as not to clash with open qualifiers for Elisa Invitational Spring, an event in which many of the top UK teams will be hoping to take part. Once the final two teams are decided, the grand final will be held on LAN at a date and location to be confirmed, with travel and accommodation covered for players.
Those 16 teams are of a strong calibre, featuring 10 out of the top 16 teams in the UKCSGO ranking, and only one team ranked outside the top 20 – newly signed underdogs, Reason Gaming, who come in ranked #30 in our list. K10 and Viperio were set to play, but have opted to pull out due to a schedule clash with United21 Season 11. That said, you will see Verdant, Coalesce, Souls Land, and The Last Resort.
Tradeit League UK Masters #1 team list – Credit Tradeitgg
As previously mentioned, Reason Gaming will be fielding a team in a UK tournament for the first time since 2020. Reason Gaming had withdrawn from Counter-Strike for years, recently returning with a North American roster that played in the lower echelons of ECL. After dropping their roster at the end of last year, they now return to the British Isles signing a team featuring ex-Endpoint player, commentator and boxer Alex “Byfield” Byfield.
Signed for a U.K team,
time to tear up the U.K scene. pic.twitter.com/bhucGF2hef
— Alex Byfield (@ByfieldCS) February 8, 2024
You can catch games live at https://www.twitch.tv/tradeitofficial; any games not streamed will be free for organisations to stream on their own channels.
