EPIC.LAN 46 end of group stage and first round of the playoffs
EPIC.LAN 46’s first day of play has come to a close. I’d love to say there were upsets galore in the groups, but unfortunately, that would be lying. That didn’t stop some impressive displays of skill and fine margins coming into play as the groups drew to a close.
It’s been a busy day in the Kettering Conference Centre and a stressful one to boot. With power issues across the LAN hall causing stream delays and the second round starting an hour late as a consequence, things didn’t go off without a hitch to begin the group stage. That being said, when it came to Counter-Strike, everything went as expected.
As groups started to take shape, the favourites showed why they were seeded so highly. The top five seeded teams at the event finished the groups flawlessly. Notably, John “Dutchy” Holland’s Square Sausages were the only one of those five to be a UK team. They weren’t, however, the only UK team to go flawless; seventh-seeded The Last Resort beat sixth-seeded 8Sins in a thrilling 13-9 to keep their unbeaten streak alive.
EPIC.LAN 46 preview: Can the trophy return to the UK?
As a reminder, the groups for this iteration of EPIC.LAN were done similarly to the UEFA Champions League’s group stage. Teams were drawn into pots, and their matchups would be allocated from those pots. There were 8 pots divided across the 44 teams, with pot 8 containing 4 byes to make up the numbers to reach 48. A consequence of this format is that if everything went according to seeding, then, in theory, all of pot 1 would make the upper bracket. This was very nearly the case.
Seven of the eight pot one teams made the upper bracket straight out of groups, with only GlitchTech missing out. 10th seed Los Imigrantos took Glitchtech’s place by having a better round difference. And that round difference was by A SINGLE ROUND. Fine margins all around.
On the lower side of the playoff bracket, only two teams from outside the top 16 made the playoffs. Cucumber Hoovers are the lowest seed to make it, coming in as the 27th seed. One of the notable omissions from the playoffs this time around is Alex “Byfield” Byfield’s Fragging Friends roster after they had a slow start to the group stage, losing to 99P and drawing to the aforementioned Cucumber Hoovers.
Standings of the top 20 in the group.
Team Name
Wins
Loses
Draws
Points
Prestige (5)
7
0
0
21
Nemesis (3)
7
0
0
21
MINLATE (4)
7
0
0
21
Phantom Esports (1)
7
0
0
21
Square Sausages (2)
7
0
0
21
The Last Resort (7)
7
0
0
21
8Sins (6)
6
1
0
18
Los Emigranots (10)
6
1
0
18
Glitchtech (8)
6
1
0
18
29AvgAge (9)
6
1
0
18
SNOOZE (12)
6
1
0
18
SinkinBoat (14)
6
1
0
18
FINUI HAS A 3 KILL STREAK (13)
5
2
0
15
Tropic Thunder (16)
5
2
0
15
Linus Sex Tips (17)
5
2
0
15
Cucumber Hoovers (27)
4
2
1
13
Bait4Ardi (21)
4
3
0
12
BUHM (18)
4
3
0
12
SNOOZE Academy (22)
4
3
0
12
99P (26)
4
3
0
12
The Upper Bracket Playoffs
MINLATE 2-0 TLR: (13-11 Mirage, 13-8 Nuke) After a close Mirage, where TLR had the opportunity to push OT with a man advantage against the map point. Minlate shut down any momentum to close it out and win Nuke to advance to the upper bracket semis
Nemesis 2-1 8SINS: (14-16 Nuke, 13-10 Mirage, 13-7 Inferno) 8Sins gave Nemesis a run for their money after coming back from 6-12 down on Nuke to win the map 16-14. They brought that same level onto Mirage, but even though they had a lead on Mirage, it all proved fruitless when Nemesis took map two and reverse-swept the series on Inferno.
Phantom 2-0 Square Sausages: (13-4 Overpass, 13-4 Nuke) Phantom showed why they’re one of the strongest teams after demolishing Square Sausages, losing only 8 rounds in the process.
Prestige 2-0 Los Emigrantos: (16-12 Overpass, 13-5 Train) Los Emigrantos had the chance to close out map one and go one up in the series, but the Danes’ resolve allowed them to come back and then close it in two.
The Lower Bracket Playoffs
Glitchtech 2 v 0 Cucumber Hoovers: (13-4 Inferno, 13-2 Dust2) The lowest seed is unceremoniously knocked out of the playoffs as they only manage 6 rounds against a dominant Glitchtech. This is a pleasant return to form for Glitchtech after a rough end to the group stage, losing to Prestige 13-3.
SinkinBoat 2-0 FINUI HAS A 3 KILL STREAK: (16-13 Ancient, 13-9 Nuke) the 2-0 scoreline deceptively shows a clean win, with OT on map one and a close scoreline on map two. Sinkinboat advances to the lower quarter finals. Connor “Finui” Finucane now has his eye on consecutive inters wins.
They might be slow in the server, but they make up for it in shouting
29AvgAge 2-0 Linus Sex Tips: (13-11 Inferno, 16-12 Dust2) Another close game goes the distance with a full 24 required as well as OT on map two. In the end, the EPIC.LAN 45 inters winners advance in the lower bracket.
SNOOZE 2-0 Tropic Thunder: (13-7 Inferno, 13-2 Train) A comfortable and unremarkable game for Snooze as they cruise to the next round with two strong wins over Tropic Thunder.
The matches for tomorrow are as follows:
Upper Bracket Semi-Finals
Minlate vs Nemesis at 13:00
Prestige vs Phantom at 13:00
Lower Bracket Quarter Finals
The Last Resort vs Snooze at 10:00
8Sins vs 29AvgAge at 10:00
Square Sausages VS SinkinBoat at 10:00
Los Imigrantos vs GlitchTech at 10:00
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