Some boy band from my era once said: ‘Never forget where you’re coming from.’
Well, it seems that UK Overwatch pro gamer Isaac “Boombox” Charles certainly hasn’t.
The Philadelphia Fusion Overwatch League player, who previously played StarCraft II, has made a significant contribution towards a prize pool for his old game.
Boombox has put his own money into the epic.LAN StarCraft II tournament prize pool, which currently stands at up to £1,750 plus tickets to the next event.
His contribution increases epic.LAN’s original prize pool, allowing prizes to be paid out to more participants.
Boombox attended previous epic.LAN StarCraft II tournaments, including epic14 which he won (pictured) back in February 2015. He also finished second at epic15 and 16 and won the epic.LAN Overwatch competition at epic20.
“It’s so heartwarming to see people remembering where they started their esports careers after moving on to bigger things, we really should make a fuss about what he’s done for the SC2 players at this event.”
Jon Winkle, epic.LAN
The epic26 prize pot is now as follows (the lower amount is if 24 to 31 players take part; the higher amount is if 32 players get involved):
1st – £625-£700
2nd – £300-£350
3rd – £150-£190
4th – £125-£150
5th-8th – £75-£90 each
epic.LAN founder and MD Jon “winbar” Winkle wrote on a post on the epic.LAN website: “The SC2 players are always friendly and show the event and the epic.LAN staff a world of respect; because we keep supporting the community, they keep coming back, event after event and they’re a pleasure to have at our LANs.
“Isaac didn’t actually want any credit for his kind gesture but I felt it was such a nice thing to do. It’s so heartwarming to see people remembering where they started their esports careers after moving on to bigger things, we really should make a fuss about what he’s done for the SC2 players at this event.”
Jon is right – Boombox giving back to the StarCraft II and UK esports community should be celebrated. By funding a prize pot, he is not only thanking epic for providing some good memories during the early days of his career, he’s also propping up the UK grassroots community around a classic esports game.
We wish we had more positive UK esports stories to cover like this one!
epic26 runs from February 7th to 10th at Kettering Conference Centre. The SC2 final will take place on February 10th at 11.30am.
Further reading: epic.LAN adds Rainbow Six Siege to 2019 esports tournament line-up
Image source: epic.LAN Facebook
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
