UKCT - UKCounterTerrorist

In stark contrast to their IEM European performance where they finished third, Roskilde Ravens failed to even win a group match at the world finals.

Today we see a consquence of that poor performance with Christian "turkizh" Bindslev now being removed from the squad. Ravens have not announced a permanent replacement, but have said that former SoA man Rasmus "FaagaN" Møller will temporarily fill in whilst they try and qualify for EPS Nordic.

Roskilde Ravens is now:

Danny "BERRY" Krüger
Michael "Friis" Friis
Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer
Baljit "zE-" Lal
Rasmus "FaagaN" Møller (stand-in)

Good luck to them.

First up, apologies that this has been done just after playday one. I had a busy weekend and didn’t have time to put this up before playday one.

Anyway, this summary will be a rundown of the UK’s first EPS season as well as a prediction on the top six finishers as well as who I believe will struggle in this season.

Prize list:

1st. £1,750
2nd. £750
3rd. £440
4th. £220

Win Bonus: £25

Onward with the predictions then.


Here we have the creme de la creme of UK CS - who makes up the top six?


It could only be one team in this position really. Despite some markedly dodgy results in the qualifying you’d be a fool for predicting any other team to take this title. They have five of the UK’s top players and it would be especially hard to predict them losing if they play their starting five and not their manager.

Key player: The addition of wez can only be good for the team dynamic and after his 1.6 break he’ll be looking to prove he still has it in the long run.

Positives:

• Arguably have the best five players in the UK in their team as well as one of the best IGLs.
• You know they’ll be practicing when they need to.

Negatives:

• Perhaps overly confident and could underestimate any other team.


I’ve decided to predict free to grab second place overall. With two ex dignitas members as well as master tactician zaK, free are my guess to snatch second place. They seemed well drilled at wiredout 2, despite not really being pushed by any team and I expect them to be the same online.

Key player: zaK is their IGL and critical to their success. He also proved this weekend at wiredout that he can frag as well.

Positives:

• Well drilled and will have tactics for every situation.
• Have a depth of experience as well as varied and adaptable players.

Negatives:

• Skillwise not as good as dignitas and I think they know it. Could hit their confidence.


Despite beating dignitas in the qualifiers, I’ve put KD-Gaming (former diamondZ) to achieve third in the overall season but I believe it’ll come down to the head to head between them and free to see who really gets second.

Although the team were hit with the Guccie scandal, the squad showed maturity and managed to qualify despite having to replay a number of matches with a new fifth in the shape of warren. I believe if they can hold it together and continue to remain motivated, 2nd is always in their reach.

Key player: Kyle. You may find him annoying as hell but there is no doubt that when he’s keen to win, he’s keen to win. If he can remember to attend every game he’ll be vitally important to KD.

Positives:

• Undeniably a group of great fraggers.
• Showed maturity after the Guccie removal and proved they really wanted to qualify.

Negatives:

• Could blow up if results don’t go their way.


Sadly I get to predict this position with the benefit of knowing their playday one result against free and therefore I’ve placed The Imperial to finish fourth, but again if they manage to beat KD there’s no reason they can’t hit third.

The squad have proven to be the most reliable and stable team out there and despite moving from TLR a few months ago have settled nicely into their new organization. They qualified fairly well and I hope will see my prediction as a challenge rather than a target.

Key player: Sharpe is the ingame leader and like zaK did this weekend, proved that he can get a few kills as well.

Positives:

• Like free, they obviously have tactics and are well drilled.
• Dedicated to the cause – crouching and 1min 20 rushes for life. (Okay, I’m being harsh but you know what I mean)

Negatives:

• Again, I think KD-Gaming are marginally better skillwise.


So...Reason-Gaming. Oddly they don’t appear to have QuarK on their roster anymore but it seems that SteveoH has managed to make his way onto their ESL page but whether he’ll be playing is another thing.

I really like this lineup but something makes me think that it won’t achieve all that it promises. 101 has had a broken PC for a few weeks so he’s been out of practice and it doesn’t look like the other members of the squad have been particularly active either but I still hope they’ll get it together.

Key player: When Murdy is playing well, he can really turn a game and he’ll need to be on form to help Reason up the table.

Positives:

• On paper, a decent team.
• Proven experience with 101 and RedH.

Negatives:

• Whether they’ll practice is another thing completely.


This is my slightly out there prediction. After their win last night I fully believe these guys could be the dark horses of the tournament. Comprised of ex TU&W players as well as the old last resort faithful they’ve got a decent lineup who could turn some heads as they try to finish in the top half of the table.

Key player: spanKy – I like this guy and he's not bad at CS either.

Positives:

• The players have known each other for eons and this will allow them to hopefully pickup where they left off.
• If they practice, they have the skill to pull off a giant killing.

Negatives:

• Might struggle to keep motivated for the entire duration of the league.

So, that’s my top six. But what about the other six teams?


Here we have the teams that could hit 5th/6th if they really try but could possibly crash out and end near the bottom if they don’t put the time in. In no particular order we have:


After a good qualifying campaign, TLR could hit as high as 5th if results go their way. A poor opening result again strong~ may hurt their confidence but like strOng~ they're another dark horse. The addition to their roster of adulki can’t hurt either. Or can it?


As much as I want these guys to succeed, I really don’t think they’ll be putting in the time to achieve what they know they can. Of course, I could be wrong and they might be going keen just to surprise everyone.


Will probably be struggling to motivate themselves after a poor wiredout showing. They’re going to have to pull their socks up if they want to do well and to break into the top six.


So from the top to the bottom we have three more teams in no real order.


Ah cLip. They surprised many by qualifying but I think they know they will probably be slightly out of their depth when it comes to most of these matches. I’ve got no doubt they’ll be practicing but I’m not sure how much return they’ll see from it.


If I was to pick one team from these bottom three to break out, it’d probably be eMpathy. They have a good range of players who can pull something magic out of the bag and it could be enough to break the 6th-9th position.


Like cLip, paramount are another team many were surprised actually qualified and again they have some decent players like Team UK Shippo but it’s probably the case that the other teams are simply better and will leave paramount struggling for results.


Thre you have it - my predictions for the very first season of UK 1.6 EPS. Of course, results can vary on any map, so if you’re playing and think my prediction is clearly incorrect, then go ahead and prove me wrong!

Also, feel free to comment with your own predictions.

Former debeakers lineup team-mighty have now announced two changes to their roster.

karmi has now gone inactive and speN has now joined the UK EPS team TLR. To replace them ex strOng~ player Blacky has been bought in as well as JZEE.

team-mighty are now:

Blacky
ets
jonL
JZEE
suntouch

Good luck to them.

#team-mighty

With Pandemic closing their doors, their CS 1.6 team was left without an organization. Today they join up with DINC who had lost their own CS squad to Loaded last month.

The team sees Dustin "dizzaman" Dilyerd leave the squad to be replaced by two new players. They are former Evil Geniuses member Garett "grt" Bambrough as well as ex Turmoil star and CS veteran Dan "mehleR" Mehler.

They'll be in action at the ESEA season 5 LAN finals this weekend.

DINC is:

Garett "grt" Bambrough
Mason "mason" Dickens
Dan "mehleR" Mehler
Mikey "method" So
Alex "millipede" Abbott
Travis "tuBBy" Bechtol

Good luck to them.

Week one of 1.6's first EPS season kicks off today.


HLTV's should be available at HLTV.org so head over there nearer the time.

Also, if you fancy trying to win ESL TV membership, head to here and post in the comments your match predictions for this week.

Good luck to all the teams!