Photo by GrimyRannarr of UKCSGO, used with permission
Update (February 29th 2024): Epic.LAN has hit UK Counter-Strike player and streamer Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield with a financial penalty for his behaviour at Epic 41 on the weekend.
“In order to give clarity to all of the players involved in our CS2 finals, we can confirm that the overall result will still stand as declared on the day,” Epic.LAN said in a statement. “However, due to the incident where a player left their seat to approach the display, removing their headset and in-ears in the process, while the game was still in progress, we have decided to apply a financial penalty to that player only. We do not feel that the rest of the team deserves to be punished for one player’s actions.
“We cannot make an exception based on the player’s intent. We will also be reviewing wider feedback from the admins and production teams separately.
“Due to the incident where a player left their seat to approach the display, removing their headset and in-ears in the process, while the game was still in progress, we have decided to apply a financial penalty to that player only. We do not feel that the rest of the team deserves to be punished for one player’s actions.”
Epic.LAN
“Regarding the wider stage feedback, our intention was to try and elevate the experience for players on stage and spectators, some of whom have never played on stage before and therefore that experience is valuable for their growth as future competitors.
“Every event we try to make small steps to improve and will continue to do so. It is never intended to be an international-level stage in terms of equipment provision, it’s still Epic.LAN, but that’s not to say we will not be looking at the feedback on how we continue to make reasonable improvements (including to integrity) within the budgets and physical space available without passing huge costs through ticket prices.”
Original article (February 25th 2024): UK LAN event organiser Epic.LAN is looking into a situation surrounding the Counter-Strike finals at Epic 41 today.
UK Counter-Strike personality Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield‘s team The Neighbours beat K10 in the grand final 2-1.
The match was due to kick off at around 1.15pm but started late. Esports News UK understands smooya was unhappy with a few things and spoke his mind with members of the Epic.LAN team, prior to the match, and threw some insults.
We understand smooya was unhappy with the stage set up and the potential for players to see rival player monitors, however Epic.LAN had conducted stage tests prior to the event and was happy with the setup. It should be said it was the first time a large spectator screen of this size was used on the Epic.LAN stage, provided by Big Purple Group.
Epic.LAN published the following statement on social media:
During the final, some members from K10 were yelling at The Neighbours after winning a round, and vice versa – usual banter and smack talk that’s common at LAN.
However, at one point during the match, smooya stood up, turned around and looked at the main screen. This happened after K10 knifed smooya in-game, threw some smack talk but failed to defuse the bomb. smooya then threw some smack talk their way, but also looked at the monitor, much to the admin’s disdain (as seen in the sarcastic tweet below by UKCSGO writer GrimyRanarr).
Having spoken to various people at the event today, it’s clear smooya’s behaviour on stage and towards Epic.LAN staff – at this event and past events – has been frowned upon by some.
The Epic.LAN rules state: “In-ears are a requirement for all players who reach the Grand Final of their respective tournament/when playing in an esports stage match. Teams must abide by any change in playing environment (moving to a stage setting) and any regulations associated for tournament finals.”
The Epic.LAN code of conduct also states: “Epic.LAN aims to provide a professionally operated tournament series and in return we expect that, while teams are at an event to enjoy themselves, they conduct themselves in the same professional way that would be expected of the event and tournament teams.
“We do not expect individuals or teams to behave in a way which causes any other paying participant to not enjoy their time at an epic.LAN event, such behaviour may include (but not limited to) […] verbal or physical abuse to any other participant or team member […].”
After the final, there was an awkward trophy ceremony on stage.
The Neighbours roster at Epic 41 featured smooya, Dobbo, bevve, Adam9130 and Extinct. K10’s roster included Yzo, Tree60, Shyyne, Rezst and Sly.
According to the Epic.LAN website, the CS tournament at Epic 41 had 34 teams taking part, which means the overall prize pool stood at £4,750.
Neighbours players react to CS2 final win at Epic 41
Elsewhere at Epic.LAN, there was also the separate CS2 Showmatch featuring French CS veterans kennyS and RpK, who were playing with Team Tradeit against Team Epic.LAN, the latter of which featured a mix of players from the usual Binmen and Grannys Knockers charity matches at Epic.LAN.
kennyS and RpK won the CS2 Showmatch at Epic 41 13-10, with more than £2,000 raised for UK games charity SpecialEffect, and we interviewed kennyS and RpK on CS2, UK CS and Epic.LAN here.
See our article on the full list of Epic 41 esports winners here.
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.
