‘I like the UK energy, beers and atmosphere’ – kennyS and RpK win CS2 Showmatch as EpicLAN raises £1,500+ for UK games charity SpecialEffect

Dom Sacco, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 19/06/2025

French Counter-Strike stars kennyS and RpK took part in a lively CS2 Showmatch at Epic.LAN 41 today, with Kenny saying he loved the UK energy at the event.

They were representing Team Tradeit as they defeated Team Epic.LAN 13-10, and they were also doing 1v1s on the Intel stand and meet and greets on the day.

The team Epic.LAN roster consisted of Retr00, Dweg, Emenjay, KingsleYisBad and Whsky (and oTYL3R as coach), a mix of players from the usual Binmen and Grannys Knockers charity matches at Epic.LAN, while Team Tradeit featured kennyS, RpK, AJ of Tradeit, plus fl0wZ and Taz of UK esports organisation K10.

The French stars were at Epic.LAN with skins platform Tradeit, which has been running CS2 events in the UK, and recently announced the Tradeit League FE Masters women’s Counter-Strike tournament.

GrimyRannarr and TheEternalJay were on casting duties, while Affinity and SeveralSheep were hosting.

The CS2 Showmatch helped raise money for UK games charity SpecialEffect, which helps physically disabled people play video games.

Over £2,500 has been raised so far, as stated by Epic.LAN founder and MD Jon Winkle.

‘The energy was not something I was expecting’ – kennyS on Epic 41 CS2 Showmatch

Kenny said after the win: “The energy in the team was great, we were really focused – especially AJ! The coach did a really good job too.

“No one surprised me on their team, I was expecting them to be as good as they were. The Binmen – their name works for them!

“I was not expecting how it went. I like the UK energy, I like the beers. The energy was not something I was expecting, it was the best showmatch I’ve played, I liked the atmosphere’.

Retr00 and on playing against RpK and kennyS at Epic.LAN CS2 Showmatch

Retr00 said: “I remember one round they were rushing ramp and through the deepsmoke, KingsleY was telling me to ‘go up ramp, go up ramp!’

“Ok I had a big flank, they all lined up in the smoke and I just held mouse 1. That was good.

“When we got the documents through ahead of the match saying we’d be facing kennyS and RpK on the same team, I was like, ‘yeahhh this is gonna be a quick game’. But we did alright, we were 10-3 down and started to come back, they started to get a bit nervous maybe, but they’re professional players’.

(A heckler then shouted, ‘they’re retired!’)

“We were like, how come they’ve got drinks and we haven’t, we didn’t know that was a rule!”

Coach oTYL3R told Esports News UK: “I could not believe we had the chance to play with French CS royalty, it was an exciting game and I’m glad it went the distance!”

We’ll be back with more content powered by Predator Gaming from Epic 41 soon

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Dom Sacco, Senior Editor

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025. 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 also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.

All Posts By Dom Sacco