The action in Kettering is in full swing. Keep up-to-date with all the playoff action with our live updated page. Our coverage team has all the updates from the ground as the competition heats up in the KCC!
Round 1: 2-0 matches dominate the first round of playoffs.
One Point Six fades to legend
The surprise success of an old guard of UK CS in the form of One Point Six fall to the Dreams To Legends squad in their opening round of playoffs in the lower bracket. The 2-0 in favour of DTL ends the underdog run that was brewing in the group stage. Despite having guaranteed playoffs by the time the final match of the group stage rolled around, whether One Point Six would end up in the upper or lower bracket was dependent on whether they were able to take down Liam “m1n1mal” Reynolds’ squad in Viperio Academy. The loss to Viperio Academy doomed the Cinderella run to the lower bracket where they ultimately fell to Dreams To Legends in a swift 2-0 affair. The victory over One Point Six rewards DTL with a match against The Last Resort.
Cyphers stack takes revenge
“Verdant Fe,” not to be confused with the org Verdant, take revenge against The Last Resort. TLR were the only team in the group stage to hand Cai “CYPHER” Watson and co. a loss but a rematch in the upper bracket first round allowed “Verdant Fe” to exact their revenge taking a 2-0 victory over TLR. CYPHER‘s impressive mix of UK talent moves onto the second round of the upper bracket with a match against Dripmen awaiting them tomorrow.
Viperio Academy don’t get a drop
Dripmen take a convincing win against the Viperio Academy side dropping only six rounds over the course of two maps Dripmen move onto the second round of playoffs with the wind in their sails. Unfortunately unlike the rematch between “Verdant Fe” and TLR, this group stage rematch went just as it did in the group stage. Viperio Academy only have two losses this event with both being to Dripmen. Fortunately, Viperio Academy’s Success in the group stage affords them a second chance as instead of elimination they’re granted the opportunity of a lower bracket run, kicking off with a match against Flowstate.
Flowstate live up to their namesake against The Fanclub
Byfield’s pre-LAN prep has clearly paid off as they reach the second round of the lower bracket after taking a convincing win over “TheRealBenForder Fan Club.” Similarly to the Viperio-Dripmen match the losing team managed to only win 6 rounds across the 2 maps that were played. The loss handed to the Fan Club eliminates them from tournament contention whilst Flowstate are going to be hopeful they can maintain their form moving onto the second round of the lower bracket where they are set to meet “Bravefart”
CTRL Esports lose control of the match.
After a decent run in the groups, CTRL Esports miss out on the upper bracket and are granted a lower bracket run where they met “Bravefart.” Unfortunately for CTRL TheDombox and his mix team take the victory with a convincing 2-0 victory. The first map of ancient wasn’t close and whilst the second map of nuke was closer, with CTRL winning 7 rounds instead of the 4 of ancient, that still wasn’t enough for CTRL to advance through the bracket.
Verdant continue their undefeated run
Widely considered a dark horse by many the squad coached by Freddie “grimyrannarr” Pritchard were unable to post a map on the board against the tournament favourites of Verdant. Belfast Storm had an impressive group stage dropping just one game against The Last Resort, earning them with an upper bracket spot. Unfortunately a match against tournament favourites and undefeated team Verdant is always going to be an uphill battle, the hill proved to be a mountain the Belfast Storm couldn’t climb. The 0-2 loss relegates the Northern Ireland-based organisation to the lower bracket.
Annex make it close but the strength of sin prevails
Annex did a commendable job in their 2-1 loss to 8Sins, being the only team to take a map off their opponent in the first round of playoffs Annex did their best to make the match close. This match too was a rematch of the group stage with Annex demonstrating a newfound resolve in the rematch, the initial encounter between these teams had ended in a one-sided victory to 8Sins. Unfortunately, the new strength LAN veteran Joe “Godku” Fawkes’ team was able to muster wasn’t enough to take down 8Sins despite making the rematch a lot closer. This loss relegates the Annex squad to the lower bracket.
Penjymin keep it clean against the Frosty duo
The two Frostys that Chucklestorm strikers had on their roster weren’t enough to fend off the Penjymin side. Penjymin took a clean 2-0 victory over the strikers, keeping it fairly straightforward in the lower bracket match to keep themselves alive here at Kettering. With the loss to Penjymin, Chucklestorm are eliminated from title contention at EPIC 43 and their opponents live to fight another day, however their upcoming match against Belfast Storm will truly test their mettle.
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