The two finalists of UKIC Season 5 Division 1 have been decided, and it’s a familiar matchup.
ALASKA will play 8Sins for the third time this year on LAN. The teams have shared the spoils so far, with 8Sins winning the upper bracket final at EPIC.LAN 44, but ALASKA emerged victorious where it counted in the Grand Final. Both games so far between the sides have gone to three maps, which bodes well for an exciting conclusion to the season.
ALASKA are the defending UKIC champions, having won back-to-back titles. Belfast Storm ran them close in season 4, requiring three overtimes on a decider map, but Verdant got it over the line with help from Oliver “leaf” Jackson. leaf has since left Tom “arTisT” Clarke’s team to be replaced by Jamie “Tree60” Callan, tipped as one of the UK’s top prospects. The squad rose to a peak of #73 in the global VRS off the back of their EPIC win and remains the favourite to take home another domestic trophy, with their last LAN defeat coming in the UKIC Season 0 finals.
Can 8Sins deny a second trophy lift for ALASKA this year?
8Sins have emerged as their closest challengers so far but suffered a slow start to the season with defeats to Royals, Reason Gaming and Belfast Storm in the group stage. They closed the regular season strongly to finish 5th and took down #1 seed Reason in the best-of-three stage where it counts to get here. The return of Scots Andrew “Wolfie” Allan and John “Dutchy” Holland has helped them kick on and establish themselves as the #2 team in the domestic scene, and with EPIC.LAN 44 MVP Michael “Prime” John Fury they will fancy their chances at taking down ALASKA.
UKCSGO touted both 8Sins and ALASKA as the favourites coming into this season of UKIC Season 5 Division 1, so it is no surprise these are the two teams playing in the Grand Finals.
The Division 1 Grand Finals will be held at Team Endpoint HQ in Sheffield on Saturday, 12th April, with each team getting access to one of the Pracrooms bootcamp rooms for the duration.
Two weeks until our LAN finals ⚔@8SinsEsports & @ALASKA_CS2 will face off once again, who's your money on? pic.twitter.com/rYnQZUnUEk
— UK & Ireland Circuit (@UKICircuit) March 29, 2025
Disclaimer: The writer of this article works for Team Endpoint who run UKIC; he is independent of tournament operations. Editor-in-chief Freddie Pritchard works as a coach for Belfast Storm, who also competes in UKIC Division 1.
