Esports News UK runs down the latest news about EPIC45 in Counter-Strike, Valorant and Starcraft II. The event, running from 17th-20th July, promises to be a historic iteration of the LAN event due to its newfound relevance in Europe.
While EPIC.LAN remains the home of UK Counter-Strike, there is no mistake that the biggest story coming into EPIC45 is the EU teams coming to compete at EPIC.LAN. Teams like Synical, 8Sins, Recognised Talent, and defending champs NXT will have their work cut out for them to get deep in the tournament and earn VRS points.
While Ecstastic withdrew due to scheduling and Inner Circle withdrew following their signing of the classic 9ine roster, there are still a host of EU teams present at the LAN. EU teams include FUT, AaB, TheLastResort, Alliance and Iberian Soul featuring British AWPer, Smooya.
Due to the precious nature of LAN wins in the VRS system, EPIC.LAN has become a way for teams to accumulate both ranking wins and precious LAN victories.
EPIC.LAN, as an event anyone can enter, is not gatekept like many other EU LANs, but still offers VRS-ranked status, making it a valuable entry point to LAN and VRS for the UK and now EU scenes.
FUT at EPIC
The roster features three household names from their time in tier one. Former Vitality riflers Kévin ‘misutaaa’ Rabier and Nabil ‘Nivera’ Benrlitom both made names for themselves at Vitality, playing alongside Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut.
While Nivera stepped away from Counter-Strike, switching to Valorant until his return last year, misutaaa has continued in CS at teams like Falcons, Into the Breach and 9ine.
Audric ‘JACKZ’ Jug is also a familiar name, having been a long-term piece in G2’s French and then international rosters. The Frenchman just shared his recent wedding photos on X. Now he’ll spend his honeymoon in sunny Kettering…
TheLastResort sign WildLotus roster
British organisation, TheLastResort (TLR) have made their most ambitious roster signing to date, bringing in new sponsorship that has allowed them to sign the WildLotus roster already attending Kettering.
Signing the roster, consisting of b0RUP, birdfromsky, Keoz, Vegi, and b0denmaster, instantly gives TheLastResort a VRS rank (#136 in the last VRS model snapshot), making it easier for the organisation to step into European competition.
TheLastResort have previously signed UK veterans, with a few notable exceptions such as The Netherlands’ Antal ‘Cher1on’ Lubbers and American import, ‘madden.’ With this move, the organisation are stepping into the world of United21 events, European Pro League, and EU Open Qualifiers.
Preasy make way for AaB Esports
Previously, it was expected that Preasy would attend EPIC.LAN, however, with the organisation taking a break from their roster, AaB Esports takes the spot. The Danish roster is the same core, in theory, from the core that made up Preasy, but, due to substitutions falling at the wrong time for VRS snapshots, they technically do not have Preasy’s VRS ranking.
Still, that’s extra motivation for the now AaB team as they’ll look to get VRS ranking wins at the event to alleviate that issue.
A young Danish roster of highly skilled relative unknowns, they’ll be one of the teams to watch in Kettering.
Starcraft II event remains strong
While Starcraft esports has unfortunately been beset with several setbacks in recent times, like its removal from IEM Katowice 2025, the game’s fanbase and community are providing the staying power to keep SCII at EPIC.
RTS games may not be the most popular esports anymore, but Starcraft II’s LAN presence is testament to the enduring love of the genre. Let’s not forget that MOBAs, the most popular games in esports by several metrics, came from Real Time Strategy.
In the event, Joshua ‘RiSky’ Hayward will be hoping to add to his 13 EPIC.LAN trophies, a record amount of wins for an attendee of the UK’s biggest community LAN. However, the retired pro last won the title at EPIC 42, losing the final to Mateusz ‘Gerald’ Budziak at EPIC 43 with the Pole defending his title in February.
Valorant at EPIC45 suffers from low attendance
Valorant, as of the writing of this piece, currently only has 8 teams for EPIC45, short of the 15 at EPIC 44. While summer EPICs are generally smaller, the fall may be due to the clash with Valorant North//East Challengers.
In any case, the event still has representation from the Aconite, TheLastResort, and Crescent Roze, whose Valorant team are entitled CRSNT Orchid, and were picked up for the LAN by the organisation who boasts teams in Counter-Strike, Valorant, and Rocket League.
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.
