smooya, bevve, and MMS qualify for UKIC Season 6: Division 1

Due to Reason Gaming forfeiting their spot ahead of Season 6 of UKIC Division 1, a possibility opened for a team to earn a spot through open qualifiers.

Usually, there are two spots open for Division 2, but the qualifiers hosted this weekend opened up extra luxuries. Many strong teams signed up with the ambition of taking that coveted spot, but there will only be one.

With 26 teams signed up, the headline name was undoubtedly QuestionMark, a rather insignificant moniker, but one that carries with it some very exciting names. Spearheaded by Owen “smooya” Butterfield, the accomplished Brit is joined by fellow countryman Marco “MMS” Salomone and James “bevve” Slinn. The roster is rounded out by a familiar name to UK CS, Robin “robiin” Sjögren, and a newcomer, Lukas “FreeZe” Hegmann. This roster will be coached by Ciaran “biscu” King, who departs from the core of ALASKA for the first time in four years.

UKCSGO understands that this roster originally had Hristiyan “REDSTAR” Pironkov instead of FreeZe as their fifth. He played in their opening three games of ESEA but has moved on to a new project. FreeZe was only stepping in for the UKIC qualifiers, in place of REDSTAR. UKCSGO can confirm that Thomas “Thomas” Utting will complete this roster for the upcoming season of UKIC Division 1.

Despite there being some sharp teams signed up, such as flowstate, CTRL ALT Defeat, Recognised Talent, Royals Academy, and Fli6ht Gaming, this qualifier for these teams would end up being more of a fight for Division 2 than Division 1.

There were some other interesting teams signed up, such as an Icelandic squad named maZe featuring EPIC.LAN 35 winner Edvard “EddezeNNN” Heimisson and a team of Chinese students who are studying in England under the name TaoTieh Gaming. Viseria is not a known name in UK CS, but it has an exciting prospect for the future playing for them. BSG_TJ, the 14-year-old son of Belfast Storms’ owner, who is blind in one eye, played in the UKIC qualifiers and did pretty well.

Viseria did get knocked out in Round 3 of the Lower Bracket, but not before they beat the new UNDERACHIEVERS team. And in these games, the 14-year-old talent did more than hold his own. Certainly one for the future.

Taking a look at how the bracket unravelled, the second round saw Royals Academy defeat the new Fli6ht Gaming team playing in ESEA Main. Fli6ht Gaming took over ANTARCTICA’s ESEA Main spot, but seemingly couldn’t play up to those standards as they lost their second game to an ESEA Intermediate side.

The next upset was flowstate shockingly losing in Round 3 to Team Lemon. Granted, Coach Shane “shaney” Smith was playing, but he did top the scoreboard in their nail-biting overtime loss. This meant Lorenzo “LTH” Venanzi’s squad would have to go through the Lower Bracket if they wanted to qualify for Division 2.

The qualifier was structured so that whoever won the Upper Bracket would qualify for Division 1, and the two teams that made it through the Lower Bracket would qualify for Division 2. Therefore, because flowstate lost and are demoted to the Lower Bracket, they relinquish their ability to fight for Division 1.

Despite there being some odd results, the Upper Bracket went as expected, with Question Mark and CTRL ALT Defeat both making the Grand Finals. This final went as well as expected for CAD. In the qualification BO3 smooya went nuclear with over 100 ADR across both maps as they won 2-0.

That means Question Mark will participate in UKIC Season 6 Division 1, and CAD will remain in Division 2 after they lost their Division 1 spot last season.

In the Lower Bracket, flowstate – favourites to qualify for Division 2 – stepped up to the task. Still playing with shaney, they played to the calibre that is expected and swept past Recognised Talent, maZe and Monkeys to qualify.

The other team to qualify is PHAZE, which made a heroic Lower Bracket run, winning five games in a row to qualify. Originally knocked out of the Upper Bracket in Round 2 to maZe, PHAZE rejuvenated themselves as they barely lost a round for the next two games. Their toughest opponent yet would be Royals Academy, who took them to overtime, but were ultimately no match for them. What ended up being their last game played, ‘sexiest gamers’ saw PHAZE walk away with a 13-7 victory and a UKIC Division 2 spot.

This wasn’t supposed to be the qualification game. The supposed last game to be played against Team Lemon was forfeited, and so PHAZE walked into Division 2 after only playing four of the five games needed.

The full team list for UKIC Season 6 Division 1 starting April 22nd:

28AvgAge
OKSUCC
Half Natty
CantThinkOfANam
The Last Resort
ALASKA
Questionmark
Glitchtech
8Sins
VIVID

The post smooya, bevve, and MMS qualify for UKIC Season 6: Division 1 appeared first on UKCSGO.