Ecstatic, Alliance, Inside Circle are amongst the worldwide groups anticipated to attend EPIC.LAN 45. The groups will add their title to an growing group of worldwide groups attending EPIC within the quest for VRS factors, becoming a member of Preasy and Wild Lotus.
Ecstatic, attendees of the 2024 Copenhagen Main, function a younger, proficient full-Danish lineup. 18 year-old William ‘sirah’ Kjærsgaard is each the youngest and top-performing of the bunch. The previous MOUZ NXT participant is averaging a 1.10 ranking in 2025.
Quantity 27 within the final VRS snapshot, Ecstatic would be the group to beat in Kettering. As VRS is an Elo-type system which vastly rewards groups who beat groups above them within the rankings, Ecstatic shall be a real prize to seize for groups seeking to rise within the rankings. For Ecstatic, the alternative. Although they stand to achieve by successful the occasion, a loss to a low-seed can be extraordinarily punishing for the Danish roster.
Alliance function a full Swedish core led by a veteran of the sport, five-time Main attending Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson. The 30-year-old was twice Third-4th in a significant, with LGB and Fnatic, respectively. Now he’s fostering a brand new technology of Swedes, a few of whom shall be acquainted to UK CS followers.
Sean ‘eraa’ Knutsson performed beneath British Coach Ashley ‘ash’ Battye at GamerLegion, whereas Markus ‘upE’ Johansson was a part of British org Viperio’s transfer to a totally worldwide roster in April 2024.
Having parted methods with Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný, Marcus “Q-Q” Krolak-Henriksen, and Frederik “Fessor” Sørensen within the area of two days, it’s unclear what roster Inside Circle are bringing to the KCC. Regardless of having two gamers, Inside Circle continues to be probably the most star-studded groups coming to EPIC.
They function Poland’s Szymon ‘kRaSnaL’ Mrozek and Slovakia’s Martin ‘STYKO’ Styk. The Slovak dabbled in broadcasting final yr, showing as an analyst for BLAST, however appears to be totally on the grind now with Inside Circle to ascertain a VRS rank with a now new core.
N.B. Whereas tickets have been bought by the rosters, EPIC.LAN tickets are transferrable, that means they are often offered to a different group if the group finally doesn’t attend.
The hunt for EPIC.LAN VRS simply obtained lots tougher
Whereas Valve Rating does reward LAN victories, solely HLTV-covered matches can be utilized to create and develop a rank. The limitation in VRS signifies that groups shall be preventing tooth and nail to get deep into the playoffs, the place HLTV matches reside.
Normally, HLTV cowl solely the highest 4 groups, however with Worldwide groups and the UK’s prime groups in attendance, there may be extra competitors than there are factors to go round.
Whereas many of the UK CS representatives simply wish to have enjoyable and play some CS, worldwide groups shall be spending hundreds of kilos on their pilgrimage to Kettering, and a few will depart disillusioned. For the highest UK groups, the hope shall be that they do.
Whereas the UK groups should battle fiercely to safe VRS factors, EPIC.LAN Managing Director, Jon Winkle, promised on X that the occasion will nonetheless be the identical previous EPIC.LAN, asserting, How will @EPICLAN change with worldwide CS2 groups on the VRS hunt? It gained’t.”
Whereas the Lanxess Enviornment of IEM Cologne could also be often known as the Cathedral of Counter-Strike, Europeans will now have the ability to see the Church of England of Counter-Strike, the religious dwelling of UK CS, the Kettering Convention Centre.
EPIC.LAN begins on July seventeenth, and Esports Information UK shall be dwell from the Kettering Convention Centre to carry you all of the thrilling motion from Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, and Starcraft II.
VRS has made tier two much more aggressive, so take a look at our Esports Betting Websites for odds and presents.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports author specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports Information UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
