ESL UK CSGO Prem week 1 recap: LS aces for CeX, Endpoint defeated, plus we look at some top plays

esl premiership 2017 logo 1

The inaugural matches of the ESL UK CSGO Premiership Spring season got underway last week.
Thought of as a cornerstone of the UK Counter-Strike scene by many, and referred to as a ‘consistent tournament to help grow and improve talent’ by the likes of UK CSGO player Sam ‘Astroo’ Gresham, it’s well regarded.
Accompanying the tournament, a tri-cast of Jack ‘Jacky’ Peters, Alex ‘Snodz’ Byfield and Ben ‘Esio’ Doughty narrated the games between eight teams, four sourced from online qualifiers and another four who reached the reached the semi-finals last season.
The Prem offers participants a £13,000 prize pool overall as well a highly sought-after Mountain Dew League spot for the winning team.
 

The matches

The first best-of-one match-up saw CeX, featuring Harry ‘Nukeddog’ Jenkins and Andrew ‘Resu’ Robson, along with three other British players, take on challengers in the form of NEDS.
Underdogs from the beginning, NEDS failed to gain momentum and, with the help of a second round force-buy win, CeX won their match 16-8 on Inferno. Despite getting an ace in the aforementioned force-buy, Liam ‘LS’ Scotter missed out on being the Player of the Game as decided by a poll on ESL UK’s Twitter page.


With 71% of the vote in a pre-game poll and an impressive performance throughout 2018, UK CS giants Team Endpoint were heavily favoured to win their opening match against Revelation Gaming.
Nonetheless, Revelation embraced an underdog attitude and took the fight to Team Endpoint. They managed to win big on Dust_2 and closed the game out with a final score of 16-9.


Arguably one of the biggest upsets of week 1 saw Russel ‘Russ’ Mendes being recognised as Player of the Game for his efforts. Since the match, Joseph ‘Luzuh’ Loose has announced that, after a year of service, he will no longer be part of Team Endpoint’s active five-man line-up.
The third game of week 1 featured the previous season’s champions, London Esports, versus Fierce Esports. Prior to the game, Fierce’s chances looked slim as only 22% of a poll backed their ability to win.
Unlike Team Endpoint however, London Esports used their status as favourites to their advantage, and won their best-of-one series 16-6 on Mirage. Any possible nerves that the Fierce Esports lineup experienced during the game definitely didn’t effect Emin ‘em1n’ Majrbekov, however, as the Swedish national managed to pull off the ridiculous shot seen below.


The last game of week 1, also played on Mirage, saw The Pensioners take on Dizlown EU; formally known as Orgles5.
Despite their best efforts, Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett’s team failed to prove a poll that predicted The Pensioners loss wrong, and Dizlown EU took the map 16-4.
With a stand-out quad kill from Calum ‘Kray’ Knight however, the final result wasn’t a surprise. The Brit’s 4k antics on Mirage earned him his Player of the Game status.


 

Standings

With week 1’s games over, London Esports and CeX topped Group A and Dizlown EU along with Revelation Gaming topped Group B.
Esports News UK looks forward to seeing what’s next and covering any interesting goings-on from the Prem.


With the announcement of the Grosvenor Championship: Season 2, a further two seasons of the ESL Premiership after the Spring season, and a variety of LAN tournaments such as Insomnia and epicLAN, 2019 is shaping up to be an exciting year for UK Counter-Strike and UK esports. 

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