Esports News UK can confirm that WildLotus will attend EPIC.LAN 45 to compete in the Counter-Strike 2 competition, marking the second international roster to attend the Kettering LAN in CS2 for EPIC 45.
EPIC.LAN Managing Director, Jon Winkle, took to X to tease another notable attendee, stating, “Another international team for #EPIC45.” We can now confirm that team is WildLotus.
WildLotus, includes former ITB rifler, Nicolas ‘Keoz’ Dgus, Thomas ‘birdfromsky’ Due-Frederiksen, Arek ‘Vegi’ Nawojski, Jonathan ‘b0denmaster’ Bodenmalm, as well as recent Fnatic stand-in Johannes ‘b0RUP’ Borup. The exact line-up attending the LAN is not public as of yet.
The roster, originally formed from the Into the Breach core after the unceremonious collapse of the org, had formerly included British AWPer, Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield, who left the roster in March.
The other international roster attending EPIC 45 is Preasy. Previously revealed to be attending by UKCSGO.com, Preasy features a fully Danish line-up that includes former OG player Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen, and Danish CS veteran Asger ‘AcilioN’ Larsen, who has represented teams such as SK, Dignitas and Heroic in a career that has lasted well over a decade.
Valve rankings mean more teams may come to EPIC.LAN
Valve’s Regional Standings (VRS) includes an extra modifier which increases the relative power of LAN results over online results. EPIC.LAN, now the biggest LAN event in Europe, is a natural beneficiary of the global race for VRS points.
We have already seen this peculiar aspect of Valve’s ranking in action with NiP attending Fragadelphia x LVL UP EXPO 2025 in Las Vegas. Winning the event proved to be a significant step in their recovery, contributing substantially to their rankings surge, which booked them a place at IEM Cologne 2025.
Preasy and WildLotus will be hoping to replicate NiP’s success in Kettering, while the UK scene’s own teams will be hoping to thwart the international rosters and secure the VRS points for themselves. Together with UKIC from Season 7 onwards, the UK CS scene will have only a few chances to earn VRS points.
It is unclear if further international teams will sign up for EPIC.LAN 45, or the subsequent October LAN, which is traditionally larger, but with VRS at the front of every Counter-Strike organisation’s mind, it would not be surprising if international teams become more and more common in the mighty halls of the Kettering Conference Centre.
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Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
