UK Masters Spring Season: Week 2 Predictions

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After a first week full of action and surprise, we turn our attentions to the second week of Multiplay’s UK Masters League. The league is formed of eight teams who play each other over three week days and play in a Best-Of-Two series. The league has £15,000 up for grabs and will see two teams head to Multiplay’s insomnia series to compete in a Best-Of-Five Finals on the Friday of the event.

Week one’s action saw some surprising results from the fm-eSports camp. Despite our panelist predictions being spot on for the fm/exceL match up, fm-eSports ended up going up against a resiliant SKUM Gaming the following day. The interesting thing to note though, was that fm’s map win against exceL was on the same map they played SKUM and lost. Both of those maps went to overtime too as well. With that said, fm-eSports do come away with two draws in the two series they have played, and thus haven’t really been beaten yet. The more surprising of results came from Endpoint who managed to win against SKUM but then lose against the talented lineup of fish123. It did mar their results in Week 1 somewhat, and leaves fish123 as the early leaders in the league thus far.

Teams

fm-eSports: nEiLZiNHo, weber, fre1, Puls3, stan1ey
Team Endpoint: Immi, Esio, MightyMax, Luzuh, HudzG
Team CeX: resu, BrodyC, LS, Astroo, JDD
(ex) SKUM Gaming: NK, FiLLeR, DUKK, Hawkins, MMuffin
Imperial: Jakem, conoR, Whindanski, Boaster, REAZN
fish123: keita, Sliggy, robiin, batham, tsack
Team Infused: SHEEKEY, shaney , Lumji , Ozzy , Snakey
exceL eSports: Jenko, Mole, Kryptix, Smooya, Jesp

Week 1 Results

Imperial 2:0 Team CeX (16:12 de_nuke & 16:13 de_train)
Team Endpoint 2:0 SKUM Gaming (16:12 de_cbble & 16:5 de_overpass)
Team Infused 0:2 fish123 (16:19 de_cbble & 12:16 de_inferno)
fm-eSports 1:1 exceL eSports (10:16 de_cache & 19:16 de_mirage)
fm-eSports 1:1 SKUM Gaming (16:19 de_mirage & 16:13 de_cbble)
Team Endpoint 0:2 fish123 (10:16 de_overpass & 6:16 de_inferno)

Panel

Michael “Duck” Moriarty – UKCSGO Journalist

Michael is one of our journalists here at UKCSGO, he has written for many different organisation websites including Team Acer, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Reason Gaming. He currently writes for ESL with some IEM posts he has done over the last few months. His CS knowledge is relatively restricted to recent times as he has no prior knowledge or playtime in the UK Scene from either CS: Source or 1.6 and therefore his opinion should be treated as a relatively new to the scene. However he is starting to build on his awareness of the UK Scene in CS:GO and has valid ideas of what teams should be doing what. Michael will be taking on Tuesday night matches in UK Masters.

Ryan “Flakes” Oliver – UK Scene Commentator

Ryan is one of the UK’s leading stars when it comes to commentating. Having started at epic.LAN last year for epic.SEVENTEEN, as an admin, he ended up going to Dreamhack Summer last June on behalf of CAZ eSports, then shortly after that he dived into casting, and got to cast events such as UK Premiership, UK Masters, Starladder, and WESG. He has an in depth knowledge around the UK Esports scene, and continues to thrive on casting events. Ryan will be taking on Wednesday night matches in UK Masters.

Callum “skuxz” Bristow – Chrome Gaming Captain

Callum has been working himself through the ranks over the last year, having won epic.NINETEEN back in October last year, he has the insight to help the panel come to some better conclusions on what should happen in the matches from week to week. Callum currently plays for Chrome Gaming who narrowly missed out in UK Masters and didn’t quite make it to the ESL Premiership either, but he knows how competitive the scene really is. Callum will be taking on Thursday night matches in UK Masters.

 

Week 1 Panel Results

Duck

Imperial Vs Team CeX – Prediction: 1:1 Actual: 2:0
Team Endpoint Vs SKUM Gaming – Prediction: 2:0 Actual: 2:0

Result: 1/2 (50%)

Flakes

Infused Vs fish123 – Prediction: 0:2 Actual: 0:2
fm-eSports Vs exceL eSports – Prediction: 1:1 Actual: 1:1

Result: 2/2 (100%)

Skuxz

fm-eSports Vs SKUM Gaming – Prediction: 2:0 Actual: 1:1
Team Endpoint Vs fish123 – Prediction: 1:1 Actual: 0:2

Result: 0/2 (0%)

Week 2 Predictions – Tuesday

Team CeX Vs fish123

Fish are bouyant once again after qualifying for ESL Premiership Finals, even if it was after a loss to FM. After taking two wins in last week’s games they’re looking to be near the top of this league as well. CeX haven’t been able to impress as much as they did at epic. With fish123 showing a lot of skill coming into this week, and CeX not really hitting their groove still, there’s a lot of work to go on that night.

Prediction: 2:0 fish123 (Two close games, however)

Team Infused Vs ex SKUM Gaming

A battle of two (sorta) unknowns. With both teams going close against other sides last week, this’ll be the match-up that decides the mid-table scrap. Infused are looking to keep strong and return to the heights of CS that both the org and the players once knew. ex-SKUM are now trying to reclaim their names and show they mean business. With these two sides both looking to perform strong, it’ll be a close head to head.

Prediction: A close series on our hands here, so 1:1

Week 2 Predictions – Wednesday

Imperial Vs ex SKUM Gaming

Imperial showed us last week that they can be a side that can be reckoned with in this league, despite only playing once last week, they managed to navigate past a side who came off the back of a second placed finish at the first LAN event of the year, and that has to be saying something. SKUM meanwhile disappointed us against Endpoint, but showed what they were capable of by taking a map off current champions fm-eSports. I think Imperial should take it 2-0, providing we don’t see any of that magic spark from SKUM that gets them flying high with some crazy talent.

Prediction: Imperial win 2:0

Team Endpoint Vs exceL eSports

This will be an incredibly close match series, with both sides looking to prove a point. Despite Team Endpoint’s recent changes in roster, they certainly are capable of putting a shift in against an exceL side which struggled yesterday evening against a team they should have simply beaten. I’d like to see Endpoint win over Excel as they seem to be self imploding currently. However it really depends on maps and who steps up on either side, a 1:1 could be likely or a close 2:0 either way. Should be a good match to watch though!

Prediction: Tough to call, but 1:1 on maps (or close 2:0 either way)

Week 2 Predictions – Thursday

Team Endpoint Vs Team CeX

I predict 1-1 for Endpoint v CeX – When CeX are turning up and hitting their shots they look very strong so I feel as if they’ll be able to catch Endpoint off and get a point, also Endpoint are currently going through roster changes which I feel will effect their performance as they won’t be fully focused / motivated. I think the scorelines are going to be really close on both maps however and any team can easily take the 2-0 depending on who turns up.

Prediction: Close match here, but 1:1 on maps (or 2:0 either way)

fm-eSports Vs fish123

I predict this to go 1-1, however I believe fm-eSports could easily take the 2-0 if they’re performing well. I can’t imagine fm losing 2-0 however Fish123 do have very strong players who can easily turn up and cause upset purely with their skill if fm weren’t playing well. I’ve seen fm-eSports playing very sick recently and they have the edge as they’re a team who have been practising together for some time where as fish123 are still a mix so a 2-0 fm could be likely.

Prediction: Another close match here, 1:1 on maps.

We will have more coverage of the UK Masters over the coming weeks, including statistical breakdowns of all the major players in the league, interviews, and more prediction articles on a weekly basis. Make sure you keep yourselves posted to UKCSGO as we continue to cover the top tier of UK Counter-Strike. You can follow us on Twitter and like our page on Facebook for further updates so you never miss a beat in the UK Scene.