The recently announced 7AM roster will be joining BLVKHVND in their pursuits to garner respect and glory across the pond, battling against both NA and also some EU teams such as BIG Academy and Apeks who field players like Richard “shox” Papillion, who is one of the most distinguished players in Counter-Strike history.
Both teams will be competing in the Last Chance Qualifier where 64 teams will be playing on LAN, and only eight will make it through to the main tournament, which boasts an $100,000 prize pool, which is an increase of $40,000 from last time.
In the event already there are eight invited teams such as ATK and Squirtle Squad (former Gaimin Gladiators), who have gained this spot by winning online and offline events within the last five months to award them a guaranteed spot, and the other eight are filled by the aforementioned last chance qualifier, which is a paid open qualifier played at LAN.
In the public sphere the UK CS scene hasn’t got the best name, predominantly as we are a easy region to make fun of due to our lack of notable teams. Having teams travelling internationally like Into the Breach, who recently won the Summer Assembly in Finland, and Coalesce last year winning the Sigma Esports event in Malta, are starting to show that we can have an impact on the international scene, now these two teams are looking to follow in their footsteps.
UKCSGO reached out to Fraser “Frazehh” Sollom the IGL of BLVKHVND about why they wanted to go to Fragadelphia 17 and what are their aims.
We wanted to go to Frag to get a feel for how good we really can be and see how good the international competition is, as well as for the experience. We aren’t quite sure of our expectations but it would be good to make it through the LCQ at the least as the competition is fierce and the bracket is tough.
We were also lucky enough to talk to Luke “EMPEROR” Ingram the coach of 7AM.
We have been eying to go for a while now even back to the start of the year. It offers a unique opportunity especially for such a young line up. The whole travelling together, being together is part and parcel of team bonding. The playing side offers us a real trial by fire and this LCQ offers so much more than anything domestic can offer us but we need to make sure regardless of the results we take as much away from this possible.
A topic that we covered in the 7AM announcement article was the lack of experience and the young age the newest salaried team in the UK. Their average age accumulates to the equivalent of the second youngest academy team in the WePlay academy league, so for them to have this experience so early on in their career will be so valuable in the future. This also definitely goes for BLVKHVND who are equally looking to prove their ability by testing themselves against a different play style from a different region.
