EPIC.LAN 45 was a mixture of the familiar and the surreal.
An unforgettable LAN, the event in some ways felt the same as ever. The confluence of competition and friendship, EPIC.LAN always feels like a homecoming of sorts for British esports, like putting on a comfy pair of slippers.
Yet there was something truly unbelievable about seeing the Kettering Conference Centre filled with international talent. One prominent member of the UK CS scene came up to me on Friday, exclaiming, “I’ve just come out for a smoke and JACKZ is standing behind me!”
It is hard to fathom, but EPIC.LAN 45 may have heralded a new dawn in which the LAN truly becomes central to the European ecosystem.
“EPIC.LAN 45 may only be a taster of what is to come in future events.“
EPIC.LAN VRS boost in detail
It is important to note that EU teams came into the event unaware of exactly what VRS value the event would have. In this cut-throat circuit, all potential VRS points are do or die for the organisations, so EU teams were prepared to attend Kettering regardless.
EPIC45 boasted 18 HLTV matches and 12 teams on the event page, vastly expanding its VRS potential. EPIC44, by contrast, had four matches and four teams in its HLTV event page. The increased coverage can only mean more interest in the event, as guaranteeing hugely valuable LAN wins can propel a team drastically up the VRS rankings.
The clearest example of that is AaB, who gained a whopping 324 VRS points in their runners-up performance, climbing 143 places in HLTV’s live VRS model. For context, Tyloo gained 301 VRS points from the victory at Fissure Playground, a $1,000,000 tournament.
The young Danish roster secured three ranked victories, upsetting higher-ranked teams in the process. According to HLTV’s live VRS model, they now sit #81 globally and at #55 in Europe, giving them access to a plethora of ranked events online.
EPIC45, as a whole, gave the attending teams a net gain of 925 VRS points, with no participating teams losing VRS due to the event.
Now the data is laid bare, and it shows in clear detail that the value of EPIC.LAN to teams is such that it can completely change the trajectory of a roster. Assuming no changes to the VRS model, EPIC.LAN is truly one of the most attractive events in Europe for organisations looking to secure a VRS ranking and join the invite cycle of tier two CS.
EPIC.LAN 45 may only be a taster of what is to come in future events.
UK & Irish teams were not champions, but were winners
At EPIC44, ALASKA (the now NXT roster) gained a total of 55 VRS points from the two wins they picked up while winning the event. After 10 consecutive domestic victories, NXT managed to place 4th at EPIC45. In doing so, they secured over twice as many VRS points as at the previous EPIC – 116 points to be exact.
8Sins, finishing 5th-6th at the event, secured 40 VRS points for themselves following victory over unranked mix, Bezos Bois.
Despite not winning the event, the increased EU attention on EPIC.LAN has been a net gain for the UK scene mathematically, as the increased importance of the event has led to more VRS points being up for grabs.
From a UK perspective, the increased amount of ranked matches at the event provides a theoretical basis by which UK teams can drastically increase their chances of being ranked and getting VRS wins, so long as they can remain competitive with the teams coming from overseas.
That is not to mention the benefits of exposure to EU teams, allowing for improvement in the server, as teams can both test their ability against stronger opposition and network with highly skilled European talent.
EPIC.LAN is still EPIC
With more professionalised teams and organisations entering the LAN, there were some murmurs and anxieties that the event would become too ‘try-hard,’ that the EPIC.LAN vibe would be washed away by the pressure of pursuing VRS points.
The reality was that the event did not change for the EU teams; instead, the EU teams generally embraced the LAN vibe, actively engaging with the UK players and culture. Teams were keen to discuss the games with the opposition, made plenty of noise in the LAN hall, and AaB especially took the opportunity to create content around the LAN and show it off.
For me, I like it. It’s like when I was young, I was doing this like almost every weekend. So I like this atmosphere and in UK, you can really feel it. For me, CS is a competition. If I’m here or if I’m in studio or in arena, the game is still the same.
Nothing epitomised the LAN atmosphere more than Danish veteran, Thomas ‘birdfromsky’ Due, belting out Anne-Marie’s ‘2002’ at EPIC’s karaoke.
British teams embrace EU opposition
While some of the UK teams, such as Synical, i2K, or Crescent Roze, were sent to Inters earlier than they would have expected in previous competitions, the UK teams took the increased competition in good spirits, and in typically self-deprecating fashion when faced with EU opposition.
Examples can be seen online, such as Adam ‘AdamJC’ Colwell‘s post following AimerLegion’s elimination at the hands of TheLastResort, where the former K10 IGL shared a doctored version of the HLTV for the match.
UKIC Season 6 finalists, Synical, were the only true shock in that sense, having been sent into Inters by the French FUT roster, following an uninspired group stage against domestic opposition, but the squad rallied to win Inters and won themselves some Uber Eats vouchers in the process, and you can’t complain about that.
EPIC.LAN 45: The same, but different
As if to sum up the mixture of the old and the new, EPIC was won by now eight-time champion, Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield, playing for the Spanish Iberian Soul roster, who now sit at #34 in the HLTV live VRS rankings.
EPIC is now an event which can be attractive even to Top 50 teams, though the attraction of EPIC to those rosters means they must deliver, as they can lose points through VRS’s Elo system. For Iberian Soul, their victory at the LAN meant that they did deliver, and that may prove to be a sign to other such rosters that the event is worth attending.
While most attending EU teams were doing so in the hope of securing online invites, the necessity to secure ten LAN wins for VRS means that teams like Iberian Soul may pursue the LAN regardless of the risk of getting upset, and may even prefer EPIC to online events in which the VRS reward is minimal.
As smooya celebrated with his Spanish teammates, one couldn’t help but feel like EPIC45 was truly both the same as ever, but may never quite be the same again.
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.