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Alaska win the Epic 44 Counter-Strike finals against 8sins – photo by UKCSGO/GrimyRannarr
Epic.LAN 44 was the biggest in the event’s history, and it came with surprises, upsets, and storylines that made it one of the best as well, writes Finn MacCarthy.
The biggest talking point for many Counter-strike fans was the grand final between Epic.LAN veterans Alaska, who sought to cement their legacy with a historic three-peat, and stage newcomers 8Sins, who went on an unprecedented tear in the upper bracket.
With the likes of Into the Breach and Endpoint no longer competing in CS, Alaska are now the premier team in the UK. After a very strong season in UKIC and EMEA, they came into this latest LAN the clear favourites, and they lived up to expectations for most of the tournament, sweeping the group stage 7-0, dropping only five rounds in the process.
A dropped map against a streaking Belfast Storm team was the only wobble from them until they met eventual finalists 8Sins in the upper bracket final. After three maps, two of which went into overtime, 8sins pulled off the upset and booked their ticket to grand finals with a 2-1 win. Alaska dropped down to face Ctrl Alt Defeat in lower bracket finals, who they dispatched to set up the rematch with 8Sins in grands, which they were ultimately able to win.
UK player Tree (aka Tree60) from Alaska, a new addition to their roster who claimed his first ever Epic.LAN win, told Esports News UK: “I thought I was playing quite well. Reviewing the games back after the fact, I made an insane amount of mistakes that I need to fix. And I’ll be working hard to fix those, but I think what matters the most is that we won.
“It was difficult, and 8Sins really gave us a run for our money. They’ve got really strong raw individual ability. Wolfie and Prime are just really hard to deal with when they’re having a good day. We couldn’t beat them on Inferno. We made a lot of mistakes that ultimately got punished by their individual talent. Dutchy had a a lot of clutches in our first best of three against them, which led to them winning on train in the final map.
“It was really tough, but we now have time to fix all those mistakes before the UKIC playoffs, which will be the next UK event that we play.
“I’ve really enjoyed coming into this team and integrating into the system the lads have already built over the years. I’m really liking how it is. I think ArtisT is a great leader. He really knows about the game. He’s helping me every day to improve, and it feels like something I’ve not really had before in a leader, where they’re constantly focused on trying to improve my individual abilities as well as putting in hours and hours every day in order to improve the team.
“It’s really inspiring, honestly. I think the preparation we did was definitely reflected on LAN.”
“I’ve really enjoyed coming into this team and integrating into the system the lads have already built over the years. I’m really liking how it is. I think ArtisT is a great leader. He really knows about the game. He’s helping me every day to improve.”
Tree, Alaska
What does Tree think about the vibes at Epic.LAN from the stage, and what it was like to perform in front of the UK CS crowd?
“When I’m on LAN, I’m shouting every round, trying to hype up the team, trying to get into the heads of the enemy. At home, you can’t do any of that,” Tree added.
“You’re just kind of sitting alone in your room. But on LAN, that feeling when you’re playing in person, and you’ve got all your teammates next to you, and you can give a bit of banter and trash talk to the enemies, that’s what I play for.
“The vibes are amazing. It really feels like a huge community in the UK scene. Everyone knows everyone.
“Anyone can walk up and just have a chat with you at any time. It’s always high spirits. Even if people are losing seven games in a row, they’ll still come and have a chat, they’ll get a drink.
“Obviously, we go there to win, but it’s it feels like a nice getaway from just sitting in our rooms all the time playing CS. You get to have a bit of fun with it.”
Casters OneWing and Sh1n on other UK CS stories from Epic 44
We spoke with casters OneWing and Sh1n about their experiences in the production booth at the event, and they also gave glowing reviews.
Shin said: “It seemed very positive. Everyone was really excited to be there. Everyone had something to play for, even if it was just the opportunity to cause an upset.
“It was myself and Wing’s first LAN event, and we were casting, not even playing, so we skipped a bit of a step there. It just felt so surreal, if you know what I mean. Just watching how production works, and you’re very much behind the scenes. You’ve got the lanyards on. You’re thinking, woah, this is quite big.
“With Insomnia gone, there’s not a lot going on here in The UK LAN-wise, so you could kind of feel the importance behind making sure the event was run well, and it very much was. This was the biggest Epic.LAN ever, so you can only imagine how big the one in the summer is going to be.”
Alaska aside, there were other teams that made a big impression on the community at the event, and Sh1n and OneWing wanted to highlight one team in particular.
Sh1n said: “Dusty are an Icelandic team who came over just for Epic.LAN. They’ve been absolutely dominating the Icelandic scene, and with the prize money they earned from that, they were able to travel over to Epic to compete, And they put up a very solid showing. They finished top four in the end, and were a little unlucky not to go further.
“It was an absolute pleasure to cast their games, and that’s not just because we got an extra hundred viewers or so whenever they were playing with viewers from Iceland. They brought in a lot of extra viewership.
“I casted one of their games with oTYL3R, and I think it’s the most fun we’ve ever had. It ran into about 12.30 in the morning – PCs were blue screening, streams were getting cut and players were having the most insane pop off moments. Genuinely, that’s an experience I think I’ll take with me and remember because it was honestly such a fun moment.”
OneWing added: “There was a moment where a couple of the Dusty players in a 2v4 lost a bit of concentration and were just staring at each other in the middle of Anubis. And the production team were watching from behind the camera, and we could not stop laughing. We were rolling around on the floor just for a good ten minutes because it was just so funny.
“That’s, like, the cool thing about grassroots events and more local events. You can have more fun with it than a Blast or ESL event, something that’s supposed to be a lot more serious. You can get away with silly antics.”
Other winners from Epic 44
Counter-Strike 2 was of course not the only tournament of the event.
Most notably, Epic.LAN held the finals of the Rainbow Six Siege T2 EU Circuit, which was a huge success. Following the Manchester Major last year, the UK Siege community proved that they are one of the best esports crowds in the business, and fans were eager to get to another event in person.
The four teams with the most Circuit points accumulated over the season were invited, with Macko Esports taking the win in the end with relative ease, not dropping more than four rounds in a game throughout the whole tournament.
This event meant a lot, as the winning team, as well as the second-placed Team Secret Academy, earned their place in the Europe MENA League 2025 Challenger Series, from which they have the chance to qualify to the main Europe MENA league.
In Valorant, willy g palace came away with the victory, defeating SevenFold in a close grand final and walking away with £1,850.
First-seeded Polish player Gerald took the Starcraft II tournament with ease, only losing one match the whole tournament, to second-seeded UK player Figaro in the grand finals.
Finally, British player Mahmood took the crown in the Osu! tournament, defeating fellow brit Rudj 6-4 in the grand finals, after both players rarely dropped rounds on the path to the final.
You can check out all the teams and casters from Epic 44 here, and read about Epic.LAN’s partnership extensions with Intel and Overclockers UK here.
Finn is a final-year journalism student that has a long-time love for gaming and esports. He specialises in CS2, Overwatch and Smash Bros.
