EPIC35 Viewers Guide

With EPIC35 around the corner, here is the ideal place to get all your information in one place throughout the event. From Valorant, to Starcraft2 to Counter-Strike, this page will have you covered in all the relevant times you need to keep your eyes peeled.

In the CS:GO tournament this time, we have the current reigning champions (4x) former Team Coalesce who chose not to come back to Kettering to defend their title, which leaves the door wide open for a brand new champion to appear in their wake. In terms of FACEIT Elo, I can confirm this is one of the strongest LAN events we have ever had, as nearly 90% of all teams are over an average of 2k elo in FACEIT. So it will be incredibly close in all aspects of this tournament. It does mean we don't have any clear favourite either. I know Geo and the admins are looking hard at their "pot seeding" system and making sure that can help give us a very competitive LAN event. We do have of course the Icelandic team Dusty back once again, as they come to LAN and try their best against the UK's finest, they managed 5th/6th at EPIC34 losing out to LVN's Feenix team in 3 maps, can they go better this event? Meanwhile Shoobie has changed 2 players and orgs in his team, with them going from The Goose House at EPIC34 to now Temperate at EPIC35, could these change of fortunes improve their 7th/8th finish from last event? This event also sees a return from Swaggy, he has built an interesting team it seems, in the form of Royals, filled with a caster, and a Estonian, we are unsure what to expect from this team but one should note there is lots of fun and banter coming from their area in the hall as the competition gets underway.

Valorant once again comes back into the esports lineup at EPIC35, and matches a similar number of teams we saw last event. Of course with VCT ongoing currently, it means that certain teams who had been competing to get to the respective finals, have had to miss EPIC35. However, it does mean current reigning champions VEXED Gaming are in attendance, and will be looking to add another title to their collection. This time round it looks interesting as we seem to be having a battle of the four nations right now, as we have some Welsh teams in attendance and a Scottish team called SKELP Esports involved too. One does wonder who can topple each other at this point, will the Welsh find a way to oust the Scots, or will the Scots be rowdy enough to upset the odds and challenge for the glory of Kettering? It wouldn't be Valorant if we couldn't give The Goose House a shout out. They are of course sending their main Valorant team to EPIC35 to compete and despite not having the 40 strong community backing that they had last time, I certainly wouldn't put it past them for the Goose House to make some noise this event. There has been a lot of movement in recent weeks in the Valorant scene, so picking strong contenders to rival VEXED Gaming, has been difficult. Whatever the weather though, I suspect that the carnage that will be on display will be enough to entertain those at home.

Finally I come to Starcraft2, we seem to be missing the Dark Lord at this event, the one who has an incredibly long unbeaten streak at LAN, and the one who has been champion not just once or twice, but 11 times. The King of Kettering may not be around this event, but that does leave the door open for Razerblader to finally take his place as the Prince of Kettering. We do have some Danish royalty coming to the event though, with Spazymazy returning to Kettering for another EPIC event. He previously came to epic27 (2019) and epic29 (2020), and finished 2nd and 4th respectively losing to Razerblader both times in those events (4-2 in the final and 3-1 in the lower bracket at 29). So it certainly looks like it will be another event and another clash between these two heavyweights as the pride of Britain hangs in the balance once again. For the Starcraft tournament this time, we have first timer to the event Eiger who is travelling from Ireland to come compete at this exotic location called Kettering. He may well surprise quite a few at the event and prove to be a worthy challenger, but whether he can take the title from Razerblader remains to be seen. This will surely be an emotional event for the Starcraft2 community, as Wok calls time on his SC2 career and pursues Halo now, no doubt the SC2 community wouldn't of been as everlasting had Wok not stepped up and shaped the foundations of the scene so many years ago. So I'm sure the SC2 community will give Wok a fantastic send off (although I am sure we will see Wok again at EPIC.LAN events in the future).

The Heavyweights

• Evolved Gaming - CS:GO
• Dripmen - CS:GO
• Temperate - CS:GO
• Razerblader - Starcraft2
• Spazymazyy - Starcraft2
• Zain - Starcraft2
• Vexed Gaming - Valorant
• More Attractive than you - Valorant

The Underdogs

• Dusty - CS:GO
• Lucent - CS:GO
• EKO Esports - CS:GO
• Mix - Starcraft2
• Aicy - Starcraft2
• Bromaria - Starcraft2
• The Goose House - Valorant
• SKELP - Valorant

The Outsiders

• Royals - CS:GO
• The Last Resort - CS:GO
• Feenix Ryzing - CS:GO
• Eiger - Starcraft2
• Marsbar - Starcraft2
• Molten - Starcraft2
• Temperate - Valorant
• OSK - Valorant

These teams do not depict expected seedings lists. This was done on who is at the event and who I feel can compete (hint: I could be very wrong.....)

The Format

All tournaments will be Groups into Double Elim, with a mixture of Bo1, Bo3 and Bo5.

The Mappools

The Estimated Prize Pools

The Schedule

Thursday

• 4pm - Sign Ups close (as Event Opens)
• 8pm - Opening Ceremony (Main Stage)
• 8pm - CS:GO Pot Seedings revealed and Live Draw done (twitch.tv/epicLAN1)
• 9pm - PhoenixUK Talk Show (Main Stage)

Friday

• 9am - 11am - Team Leader Briefings commence (all tournaments)
• 10am - CS:GO Group Games Begin
• 11am - Valorant & Starcraft2 Group Games Begin
• 1pm - Panel Discussion - Esports Careers (Main Stage)
• 2pm - Designated Tournament Food Break
• 3pm - Group Games continue
• 6pm - Final CS & Valorant Group Games
• 8pm - Elimination Brackets commence
• 8pm - Pub Quiz (Main Stage)
• 11pm - Day 1 Concludes

Saturday

• 10am - Elimination Brackets continue
• 12noon - Intermediate/Code A Tournaments begin (all tournaments)
• 5pm - Upper Bracket Final - CS:GO
• 7pm - Upper Bracket Finals - Valorant
• 9pm - Lower Bracket Round 5 - CS:GO
• 9pm - Starcraft2 Grand Final (Main Stage)
• 11pm - Valorant Consolidation Final

Sunday

• 9am - CS:GO Consolidation Final
• 10am - Valorant Grand Final (Main Stage)
• 12noon - Code A Grand Final (Starcraft2)
• 1pm - Counter-Strike Grand Final (Main Stage)
• 4pm - Event Closes

* Bold items denote main stage content

The Talent & Streams