After two months of qualifiers, and a near one month wait, the ESL UK Premiership Spring 2016 finals took place last Sunday. With Reason.UK facing old rivals in Team Infused, and new ones in The Working Men, the UK Premiership looked to be an incredible feat between the nation’s top teams. Team Infused, The Working Men, and United Estonia, along with our boys in Reason.UK, took the top 4 spots during the group stage. Each teams was granted qualification into the finals that were played in Leicester on the Sunday of June 3rd, 2016.
Eyes on the prize. The ESL UK EPS Finals trophy – Photo by UKCSGO.com
Semi-finals vs. Team Infused
Reason’s first match would be against their ever-so-tough opponents in Team Infused. Facing two loses in their previous matches (UK Masters, and the Premiership group stage), chances looked a bit slim for our squad. Map 1 was Reason.UK’s pick, Cobblestone. A very questionable decision as Infused has beaten them twice on Cobble, 16:10 in the group stage, and 16:13 during UK Masters. While the team does look quite strong on the map, it definitely seems to be Infused’s home turf. Cobble would ultimately go in Infused’s favor for the third time in a row, with three out of their five members going positive, while Conor and weber barely pulled through. Keita seemed to struggle on the map, but would thankfully show up on the next one.
Map 2 was Mirage, another common pick from Infused as the UK scene seems to really love this map (step aside BR). Reason.UK started terrorist side on Mirage, meaning if they pulled 7+ round wins, they should sit comfortably on the counter-terrorist side after half time. This would not be an issue as they would pick up 9 rounds and take the half 9:6, setting them up for a very laid back CT side. And oh boy, was it laid back. The map ended 16:7 in Reason.UK’s favor, with weber landing 29 frags and only 12 deaths. An outstanding performance.
This put us in the decider map, Cache, the vacation home of UK CS:GO. Not our team’s strongest map, in which they’ve only taken two wins on in the past 3 months. But it would have to do and the team would have to show up. Many eyes have been on weber since the start of the series, and Infused took notice. Their attempts to shut down the former legend did not end well, while the rest of Reason.UK played around Infused’s mistakes, and their emotions after the loss on Mirage. Weber was handed frags left and right, while the team played a very supportive role to give their star player the podium. After another 9:6 half, Reason would take the map, and the series 16:11.
The winning screen as we take down Team Infused – Photo by UKCSGO.com
Grand finals vs. The Working Men
Easily the toughest match up for Reason.UK, The Working Men with Swedish talent, robiin, had just come off of a strong, yet challenging victory against United Estonia. During picks and bans, The Working Men removed Dust 2, a map that Reason.UK has had banned against them consistently after their 16:1 victory over United Estonia during the group stage. With Reason’s removal of Train, this left the same three maps to be played again. Reason.UK chose Cobble, The Working Men chose Mirage (a map the commentators called their home), leaving Cache as the decider. Despite the consistent losses on Cobblestone, Reason.UK stood their ground and continued to aim for a victory on the decrepit castle. After 29 rounds, Reason.uk finally took a win on their map pick, taking out The Working Men 16:13, despite TWM’s insane frag count.
Map 2 was a massive struggle from the team of Reason.UK, with TWM yet to lose on Mirage, everything seemed to be looking up for TWM. After being carried by their Swede and Greek masterminds, TWM walked their way through half-time, despite the hilariously failed team molotov. After the 9:6 half-time, TWM shut down the CT side of Reason.UK, only giving up 3 rounds and taking the map 16:9. This would throw both teams in their 6th map of the night, and again, on Cache.
With this being the last map of the entire tournament, and so much being on the line, nerves were definitely at an all-time high. Both Reason.UK and The Working Men proved their positions as the top 2 teams in the UK, but now it was time to decide who was number 1. With Reason.UK starting off on terrorist side, many expected The Working Men to shut them down with their impenetrable CT side, but Reason did everything in their power to prove their T-side was stronger. Weber and keita became an incredible duo that bashed through the stone wall of The Working Men, giving Reason.UK a 9:6 lead through half-time. But the strong T-side wasn’t enough to shut down The Working Men, who showed up exactly the same on their own T-side. Teasing the side of Reason.UK by losing 4 rounds, and then throwing everything all at once on the B-site of Reason.UK, and taking 10 very strong rounds to shut out the game 16:13, and leaving Reason.UK in 2nd place.
So close, yet so far as a long day comes to an end. Photo by UKCSGO.com
Despite the 2nd place finish, Reason.UK showed that they were one of the top teams in the nation, and took home £1,375. We’re all incredibly proud of what our team has been able to accomplish under the Reason banner, and we hope they will continue to do the name proud.
Be sure to follow everyone, as well!
@keitaCSGO
@weberCSGO
@REAZNcsgo
@bathamCSGO
Unfortunately, conoR hasn’t found his way onto Twitter yet.
