UKCT - UKCounterTerrorist

Hey. I was going to post this tomorrow but I'm busy now so you lucky chaps get to read it a day early.

6-10
11-15
16-20
21-25
10 moments that didn't quite make it

Anyway, heres the final rundown of what I consider to be the UK scenes finest moments.


Another classic UK 1.6 moment. In their final match of the Extreme Masters tournament, 4K were set to play fnatic. However, 4K asked to play with a stand-in and fnatic bluntly refused - This was despite fnatic being allowed by 4K to use speedi as a sub.

With AdY and Red` unavailable, quark (the player 4K were going to use as a merc) stepped up and decided to play fnatic with a mix team.

The game ended 16:05 to “4Kings” but it was quickly discovered that not one full member of 4K was playing. The result was overturned and the lineup christened themselves fnatic beaters online.

4Kings AphexTwin : GG LOL UR BAD

The line-up maintained their victory had been legit but this loss for 4K would mark a slow decline of the squad and creation of an all UK team.

FBO was:

101
dh
quark
Rav0r
ward0

GotFrag post
UKCT post


Unlike the 16:08 ethernet loss to SK at CPL UK c4u had actually gone one better and managed to draw with them around a year before.

To set the scene, Landed Lan 6 was taking place at Oxford Brooks university and the event was doubling up as the 2nd Intel Extreme Edition Challenge. A number of show matches were set up and c4u were drawn against the Swedish powerhouse.

The game started and c4u won a few rounds with the first half ending 9:3. However, SK then started losing rounds - a lot of rounds in fact. The pistol round won, eLm in particular put in an incredible performance to tie the game at 12:12.

As the game hit the tie, the LAN and UKT were awash with rumours of overtime and/or another map. However, the Intel management claimed SK were tired and cancelled any chance of the match being finished. GotFrag and other sites were then hit by posts claiming SK were drunk and weren’t playing properly. However, for me, you can’t deny after watching the demo that they really didn’t want to lose this match.

This game skyrocketed the lineup to international fame but KritikaL would leave the lineup just over a month later.

c4u was:

eLm
kae
KritikaL
trix
wilzOOO

UKT post
GotFrag post
Demo


4Kings had been on the decline for a while and the loss to dignitas at the UK ESWC qualifier cemented dignitas as contenders for the top team in the UK.

When ESWC 2007 rolled around, dignitas were widely expected not to qualify past the first group stage, having been drawn against TR.Victory and mousesports.

Against all the odds, dignitas managed to oust the Germans (partly due to mouz dropping rounds versus dig) by beating TR.Victory and tying the group and going through on round difference.

A good showing right? You’d have said so especially after seemingly being doomed after being put against NiP, NoA and emulate in the second group stage. That said, RattlesnK and co had other ideas. After first losing to NoA, they managed to tie with NiP and then mount an incredible comeback to beat the French 16:14.

They went out, but with their heads definitely held high.

Again, the scene rallied behind dignitas and considering the makeup of the team, it was great to see some unity for what was retrospectively a damn good line-up. Mx would leave the lineup fairly soon after the finals to be replaced by AdY, but this UK squad would still be the most successful since 4Kings and arguably since this event.

dignitas results:

[30:00] NoT
[12:18] mousesports
[27:03] Plan-B
[16:14] TR.Victory
[09:21] NoA
[15:15] NiP
[16:14] emuLate

dignitas was:

KritikaL
Mx
RattlesnK
Reality
wilzOOO

MYM coverage
MYM coverage #2


This was arguably the peak of 4Kings for 1.6. After achieving second at WEG I and then third at WEG II, GotFrag ranked the line-up in July 2005 the second best in the world behind Begrip. You could argue that only two members of the line-up hailed from the UK, but it was still an awesome achievement for a UK based organization.

After a poor ESWC, the team would make a slow slip down the rankings. It would make occasional moves upwards after decent but never outstanding events and would sadly never reach the heady heights it did in the summer of 2005.

4Kings was at the time:

aKuJii
elemeNt
Goodfella
Mangiacapra
Red`

GotFrag ranking
WEG Season II

The top 25:

25. Onesix mercing incident
24. The start of a new CSGN season
23. The tale of drisky and c4u
22. HeatoN vs 4Kings
21. 4Kings return to an all British squad
20. Johnson: the man, the legend
19. The UK and Ireland – The Scene released
18. TcM [16:14] x3o at GameGune
17. WCG UK 2005 Source mishaps
16. TheSGL is created
15. Who was Corbulo/DWH/kzr?
14. SK [16:08] ethernet at CPL UK
13. eom prize stealing
12. adulki
11. Overtime, Overtime, Overtime
10. =WOLF= [13:08] 4Kings at ESWC UK
9. Luke “KritikaL” Green
8. wilzOOO cheating versus 4Kings
7. Salvo win the second season of the CGS
6. Dodgy dealings at ACON5 with 4Kings and Lastchance
5. fnatic lose to random mix, FBO born
4. c4u [12:12] SK at Landed LAN 6
3. dignitas at ESWC 2007
2. 4Kings hit #2 in the world


Well, it was probably predictable but here it is – my top moment in UK CS is Team UK managing to take down Team Sweden in the final of the seventh edition of the Clanbase Nations Cup.

Before the match took place, many of the top gaming sites predicted a whitewash. After all, take a look at the lineups:

Team UK:

AdY
duck
KARDY
ShaQ
ZaG

Team Sweden:

Bullen
dsn
fisker
SpawN
vilden

Who would you place your money on?

Seriously though, this game was of my favourite experiences in UK Counter-Strike. As the game went live, UK teams stopped PCWing and UK IRC channels went dead save for comments about the match.

UK started terrorist on de_dust2 and KARDY turned it on. Hitting 23 for 6 in the first half, he dominated the Swedish, taking short repeatedly. Indeed, the opening clip from the original UK and Ireland – The Scene movie took arguably KARDY’s finest moment in the match and shoved it right into your face with a massive sucker punch.

With the first half over, the UK took a commanding lead coming out 13:02 up. However, never underestimate the Swedes. As the game wore on, fisker won a 4on1 to pull back an all but lost point. The score at 15:14, the round started with Sweden losing three players early on. As it progressed, ZaG spotted terrorist spawn from double doors and caught the faintest glimpse of the remainder of Team Sweden running towards B. Team UK rotated and took them down ensuring the victory.

I don’t think I’ve heard such a roar on Ventrilo since.

Team UKs route to the title:

[15:15] France
[21:09] Poland
[30:00] Ireland
[19:11] Iceland
[26:04] Spain
[20:10] Hungary
[16:08] Russia
[16:14] Sweden

I think it's also worth noting hih1, kae and Righteous played in earlier games and that the team manager was fizzeh.

UKT post
GotFrag post
Clanbase interviews and predictions
Clanbase post

There you have it, my top 25. I've chosen moments I think were great and had a good community reaction. Some of you will probably disagree, but hey, thats life. If you're keen, send in your top five moments and we'll give it a post here.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.