Verdant continued their strong domestic form by claiming victory in the UK and Ireland qualifier for RES European Masters Fall. Verdant came into the competition riding high after topping the UKIC Season 2 Division 1 regular season. That momentum continued as they defeated Guns4Hire, –Cookie- and EXO in best-of-ones, spurred on by impressive performances from recently acquired AWPer Remi “Diviiii” Alexandre.
Endpoint awaited them in the Grand Final after they had straightforwardly vanquished Wash3dUp, TYREECESIMPSON and Viperio’s EU mix. However, Endpoint would be denied as Verdant defeated them 2-1 to book a place at the RES European Masters Fall 2024.
Verdant’s easy victories against Guns4Hire and -Cookie– came as expected whilst their map vs EXO was predictably more competitive, but the nature of the competition was anything but predictable. Despite an incredible comeback from EXO down 11-4, the team that had been dominating UK competition were unable to seal the deal when a half-buy from Verdant swung the match in their favour.
Verdant during the UKIC Division 1 Season 0 LAN finals
In the final, Verdant may have feared for the worst when they lost their map-pick of Vertigo 13-6 due to Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel and Oscar “AZUWU” Bell’s domination of A ramp, and Jan “cej0t” Dyl’s solid B holds on CT-side. The story was completely inverted on Endpoint’s pick of mirage.
In signing Diviiii, Verdant took the bold decision to move IGL Tom “arTisT” Clarke away from AWPing duties. On mirage, arTisT showed his skill with the cheaper weaponry. His rifling from connector proved pivotal, as he denied mid-control and shut down multiple A hits, propelling his team to a 10-2 half-time lead. Verdant’s failure to convert their T-side pistol led to a mini-recovery from Endpoint, which was cut-short by a low utility A-pop from Verdant that put the nail in Endpoint’s proverbial coffin on the map.
Ancient was the decider, with Verdant starting on the CT-side. Callum “Girafffe” Jones and Mohamad “Ducky” Nourelden produced solid anchoring performances to repel Endpoint’s offence which struggled for openings. Max “MIGHTYMAX” Heath especially suffered on T-side, going 2-10 in the first half. Having lost the pistol and conversion, Endpoint managed to secure a run of tightly contested rounds to fight back to 11-7, but the close nature of the rounds came back to bite them when Girafffe’s hero AK unlocked the B site with a double entry, precipitating match point. With Endpoint’s economy in ruins, Verdant ran over a broken buy in the last round to secure their spot at the RES European Masters Fall 2024.
RES European Masters Fall 2024 will take place from 31st May to the 09th June and will consist of four double-elimination groups, followed by a single-elimination playoff bracket which sees two teams qualify for BLAST’s Fall Showdown – itself a qualifier for BLAST Fall Final 2024.
Verdant will now get the opportunity to test their skill against other attendees such as Copenhagen Major participants ENCE, KOI and SAW as well as established top 50 teams such as Fnatic, 1WIN, Sangal and PERA. Additionally, BLAST will invite four (as yet undisclosed) teams directly to the event.
