Epic 32 CS:GO – Esports Wales Tân
The weekend of Friday, 26th March 2021 saw the commencing of the Epic32 Powered by Intel Counter-Strike tournament, the third of the Epic Online events since the pandemic hit us all back in March of 2020; and this time around we saw a star-studded lineup of teams varying from the standard mix teams consisting of ESEA Open, Intermediate, and Main players all the way up to the likes of Pompa Team and Royals in ESEA Advanced, and UMX as the highest ranked UK-majority roster.
After a rocky start to Season 36 of their ESEA campaign, Esports Wales Tân had recovered their form to a 7-5 record, placing them in sight of the ESEA playoffs, and earning them a spot into the pool of fourth seeds. After a late draw on Thursday night, Tân were placed into Group 4 with the mix teams of Lemmings and Defined, a UK Astralis roster sitting pretty towards the top of ESEA Open with a 10-2 record, BuzzKill Esports sitting on a 7-5 record in ESEA Intermediate and aiming for a playoff spot into Main, and the favourites for the tournament, the aforementioned UMX, currently ranked 79th in the world on HLTV.
Day 1 of the tournament kicked off with the group stages at 7pm on Friday 26th and Tân were looking to improve upon their previous impressive 9th-12th placing at Epic31 under the Belfast Storm organisation, but first they had to face the group and tournament favourites in UMX. Tân put up a good fight on Overpass, taking 6 rounds in the process, but in the end UMX just had too much experience and quality for the Welsh.
Next up for Team Tân was a favourable match up against the group’s bottom seed in Lemmings on Overpass, before a tight match and an unfortunate draw. The third match of the day was the main event of the night for Esports Wales, a showdown on Nuke against BuzzKill on the Epic stream for all to see. A rough start on Nuke saw Tân down 12-3 at the half, Tân put up a good fight to bring themselves back to 7 before being finished off as BuzzKill looked poised to finish second in the group. The final game of the day came down to a late Dust 2 matchup vs Defined, before a swift 16-9 victory for Esports Wales. After day 1 of the tournament Team Tân sat fourth in their group on 4 points, but not all was lost quite yet, they still had one more chance at playoff qualification.
Day 2 of the tournament began with the final game of the group stage, a do or die 11am matchup against UK Astralis. The group currently stood with UMX and BuzzKill having already secured playoff qualification. Defined and Lemmings had already been eliminated, and the final playoff qualification spot came down to the final game of the group stages, UK Astralis sat on 6 points, two more than Tân, but that didn’t matter. If Tân won they went through, if UK Astralis didn’t lose they went through, both teams held their own fates in their own hands, and the early kickoff began on Inferno, a map that both teams had played exactly three times this season, with UK Astralis holding a 1-2 record and Tân with the better 2-1 record. However, on the day, UK Astralis turned up with a strong showing before taking the match 16-7. Tân finished fourth in the group, exactly as seeded, with exactly four points.
That said, UK Astralis’ playoff run was short-lived after a 16-8 loss in the Lower Bracket Round 1 at the hands of frazehh and Shoobie’s Revenge. BuzzKill took an early exit from the Upper Bracket Round 1 after a 2-0 loss to the mix team of GamerLegion’s UK core, before clawing their way back to 9th-12th placing after a 2-0 defeat in the Lower Bracket Round 3 to SummY’s mix consisting of the Flight Esports duo of dexie and Nem. The remainder of the tournament played out with a clash of titans in the Upper Bracket Round 2 as Royals took on UMX before a surprising demolition job resulting in a 16-8 win on Vertigo and a 16-3 victory on Overpass in favour of UMX. With Royals’ next match resulting in a surprising 2-0 loss to PowerYourAura in the Lower Bracket Round 4. Meanwhile UMX had a dominant showing on their way to the final, with only a single dropped map in the entire playoff bracket to LVN’s Operation Save Spot, having defeated the aforementioned Operation Save Spot, Royals, and Dobbo’s GamerLegion core, before doing the double over Peak Esports in the Upper Bracket Round 3 and again in the Grand Final, thoroughly cementing themselves as the UK’s best.
