The inaugural EPIC.LAN of 2025 is set to get underway tomorrow as the halls of the Kettering Conference Centre open their doors to teams from the mixes to the organisations to the people just there with their friends. Truth be told, 2025 has seen a rocky start to the year for the UK CS circuit. Organisations like Verdant dropping their roster just before the turn of the year and most notably Endpoint exiting Counter-Strike altogether, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. EPIC.LAN 44 promises to be a shining jewel in an otherwise dulling crown.
Team participation is looking great for the Northamptonshire event 43 teams signed up for the event, continuing the fantastic attendance from EPIC.LAN 43. Not only are we one team away from matching the EPIC.LAN CS attendance, we are doing so with very limited organisational support.
Another theme from the last event is the Champions League-style group stage, meaning there will be no set groups and teams will play a variety of levels of competition based on seeding. That being said a welcome change comes in the form of how points are distributed to teams in an overtime game. Teams will no longer be given points for losing in OT however a win in OT will now grant full points, no longer penalising teams for closing out close games.
Screams will once again fill the halls of the Kettering Conference Centre
Champions return under a new banner
The victors of EPIC.LAN 42 and 43 came in the form of Verdant. They now return as the organisationless team ALASKA having not renewed their contracts with Verdant at the end of 2024. The team only made one change since the previous EPIC.LAN with their French AWPer Remi “Diviiii” Alexandre being changed out for Jamie “Tree60″ Callan.
The definite favourites come in off the back of a substantial success regionally in 2024. Completing a sextuple winning two UKIC division 1 titles, two EPIC.LANs, the Tradeit League UK Masters UK and Insomnia 71.
Looking to maintain their domestic dominance the ALASKA squad will have to dig a bit deeper extenuated by the lack of organisational presence. One interesting story for ALASKA is that of Matas “Extinct” Strumila, a victory here would be his fourth EPIC.LAN title in a row with 10 titles in total and only four shy of the most decorated EPIC.LAN player of all time Joshua “RiSky” Hayward, a StarCraft II player.
Can ALASKA win their third EPIC.LAN title in a row?
A storm is brewing
Belfast storm returns to Kettering with a vengeance. After an underperforming run at EPIC.LAN 43 losing to the PENJYMIN mix and going out in the lower quarter-finals [top 12] they ended 2024 strong. Grinding their way to the finals of UKIC Season 4 Divison 1 they went toe to toe with ALASKA. Even though they couldn’t topple the giants, a second-place finish will energise Belfast Storm as they look to go the distance this LAN.
During the off-season, they also switched out Karl-Hendrik “tsutskam” Palu for UK rifler Tristan “Stop_it” Ellis who also has gone toe to toe with ALASKA in a UKIC Final.
They come into EPIC.LAN 44 with hit-and-miss form currently sitting 7-4 in ESEA Main and 3-2 in UKIC Division 1. They’ll be looking for redemption as they look to secure a deep playoff run this time around in Kettering.
8Sins look to bring down wrath on their opponents.
It wouldn’t be too greedy of 8Sins to set their sights on a top-four finish at minimum. They came third in the previous iteration of EPIC.LAN but perhaps their pride might catch up with them, their lacklustre showing against domestic opposition in UKIC leaves them in a tight spot coming into the Kettering event.
Their European competition has fared a bit better with a 45% win rate in ESEA Main, rocking the 5-6 record. Their continental win rate being 20 percentage points higher than their domestic is certainly an improvement. Regardless, 8Sins will be hoping to capture some LAN magic if they want to repeat their success from the end of 2024.
Glitchtech returns with a formerly-retired familiar face. ??
Glitchtech started their UKIC campaign with two wins in the first week of play, the only team to play twice that week. Bolstered with RMR experience, previously choosing to take some time away from competitive play Marco “MMS” Salomone returns from streaming to compete with Glitchtech this EPIC.LAN. Another UK team struggling against European competition, being 5-6 in ESEA Main as they struggle to maintain the same five across every game. Even though they sahre the same scoreline as 8Sins, their distinction is that they are 2-1 in UKIC beating the likes of ANTARCTICA and Viperio Academy. ANTARCTICA’s only lose this season so far is to Glitchtech, showing that this new roster can fight against the top of UK CS.
MMS looks to win his second EPIC.LAN trophy
Unlikely favourites look to melt ALASKA?
ANTARCTICA saw an overhaul coming into the UKIC season. After a shock benching of Lorenzo “LTH” Venanzi, their IGL, Alex “Byfield” Byfield and Maximilián “w8max” Macášek they brought in Ehren “Ehgren” Osborne to lead with Fizan “Fizzy” Anjum and Antal “Cher1on” Lubbers coming in too.
These changes have proved fruitful as they are currently 5-1 in UKIC, which makes them number one in the standings, and also 8-3 in ESEA main. This domestic and European dominance is a form they will look to continue as they grace the halls of the KCC. As it stands anything less than a deep run will surely feel disappointing to the players that have shown so much promise as a quintet coming into the event.
Will they show that there is a method to their roster change madness, or will it all blow up in their face?
The mixes looking to do some damage.
While this year’s EPIC.LAN is expected to be taken by one of the teams previously highlighted, there is a variety of mix of teams looking to write their own under-dog storyline.
Hoping to transfer their pub quiz success to the CS tournament, fan favourites, The Binmen are back again! Well-known for hosting charity events such as a pub quiz and a CS show match, they come back with a new [and hopefully improved] team. Leading the lineup, familiar face Josh “Dweg” Nathan is joined this time by Indx, Frosty, leekb0b and DemonInferno. With a talented roster, will The Binmen believe they can get out of groups, or will it be the usual shortfall?
Can The Binmen make it out of groups?
NoReason Gaming returns as the core of Hanno, SNKg and Mako, making their second appearance at EPIC.LAN together. Hanno known in the UK scene for his casting is no stranger to playing at EPIC.LAN, albeit with no notable placings. SNKg returns to his second-ever EPIC.LAN and Mako look to make his debut a success story.
Another CS Caster Harry ‘Index’ Bayliss brings along with him Stratbase.app, a team promoting his CS stratbook/analysis tool. The team, filled with a few ex-binmen players, and a previous winner [and co-caster] in Tim “TIMMO” Musters, could provide a potential danger to the favourites teams, hopefully bringing about a few upsets.
From IGL to being kicked from his own team, Lorenzo ‘LTH‘ Venanzi is looking to take revenge. With the old roster of Flowstate forming ANTARCTICA, LTH is now joined by Jakob ‘Bishar00niE’, Shane ‘shaney‘ Smith, Thomas ‘Praisy’ Panting and Tom ‘trouto’ Troughton, under the FLowstate banner.
LTH is no stranger to an underdog run with a rag-tag of players, and with some teams walking wounded, it might be his time to strike once more.
Not just money to play for.
The Valve Regional Standings were supposed to offer the option to lower-tier teams and make the whole circuit open, whilst we know that it hasn’t worked out exactly as expected, it doesn’t stop EPIC.LAN from being an event that provides VRS points. It’s not just money on the line for the teams looking to make deep runs at EPIC 44 but also VRS points and an elusive potential wildcard invite for the finalists.
With the changes Valve made to wildcard invites the top 2 teams at the Kettering event are eligible to be selected for the upcoming BLAST Rivals event. Whilst it’s unlikely that an EPIC.LAN finalists will be selected as a wildcard invite considering teams like Spirit, Vitality and Eternal Fire also qualify it does mean that making the finals is just that little bit sweeter for those that can run the gauntlet.
The final few matches of EPIC.LAN 44 being on HLTV presents a unique opportunity for teams to gather some of the much sought-after VRS matches and points. Teams need 10 VRS matches across six months with the same core to qualify for an official ranking. Therefore, for a UK team to obtain a rank they will need to make a deep run in back-to-back EPIC.LANs and UKIC playoffs. It is a very daunting task but will there be a team that rises above the rest and joins ALASKA as a VRS-ranked team?
Talent
Your casters for EPIC.LAN 44 will be:
Orson “SeveralSheep” Schuijers
Vlad “WaXeN” Catusanu
Tyler “oTYL3R” Hewstone
Alexander “OneWing” Derhamand
Alessandro “Sh1n” Scaglia
If you want to find out more about these casters read our “Meet your EPIC.LAN 44 CS2 casters”.
Closing Words
A new year and a new format bring around possibilities for all teams, EPIC.LAN 44 looks to shine a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dark and murky scene. With so many wonderful teams and mixes EPIC.LAN is set to kick off 2025 with a bang.
As always UKCSGO will be out in full force. A star-studded team with Tommy and Kai taking the lead on coverage, dbdan curating graphics and theskiesbg snapping everyone’s best angles. Make sure you keep an eye out for our content across the weekend!
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