We saw a very action-packed first week for the ESL UK CSGO Premiership promotions last week, with a high number of matches taking place on Monday 5th September and Tuesday 6th September. Reece Barrett recaps all of the matches which took place over the two days this past week.
Heinz.UK vs Team XENEX – Quarter Final
Heinz.UK took on Team XENEX in the first streamed match in the ESL UK Premiership. The maps vetoed were Cobblestone (Heinz’s pick), Cache (Xenex’s pick) and Mirage, with only two maps being used as Heinz.UK took the series 2-0 over Team XENEX.
The series kicked off with Cobblestone which was Heinz.UK’s pick. Heinz started off on the CT side and absolutely dominated poor Team XENEX, with the final score at the end of the half being 12-3 to the side who picked the map.
It didn’t take long for Heinz to close out the game as they won the second pistol round as the terrorists – and went on to win the next three rounds to finish off their flawless T side. The final result was 16-3 as Heinz took the first map.
Team XENEX’s pick Cache was up next, where Heinz barely took the CT half 8-7 in a pretty even first half. Xenex began to pick up steam after winning the pistol round and three more rounds in a row. Heinz responded with an eight round winning streak to end the game 16-10 and the series 2-0.
“What’s a rifle if you can’t use it?” said Jack “Jacky” Peters on Team XENEX towards the end of the second game on Cache.
Heinz.UK advanced to the semi final against nerdRage.pro, while Team XENEX advanced to the Loser’s Bracket to face fish123.
fish123 vs nerdRage.Pro – Quarter Final
fish123 took on nerdRage.Pro in the first round of the promotions. The maps vetoed were Mirage, Cache and Cobblestone, but only Mirage and Cache were played in the series as nerdRage took the series 2-0 against a fish123 side who had been looking very strong as of late after a great performance in the ELeague Open EU Qualifiers on Faceit just a few days ago.
The series started off with de_mirage, with fish123 starting as the favoured Counter-Terrorists side and nerdRage on the Terrorist side. Fish won their CT half 9-6, ending the half with a three round lead. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough to hold nerdRage back, as they won the pistol and the next 9 rounds afterwards to take the game against the Fish T side, who didn’t manage to pick up a single round that half. The first match ended 16-9 to nerdRage.Pro.
Up next was de_cache, and as caster Joe “Munchables” Fenny said himself, it wouldn’t be UK CS without Cache. In this match-up, fish123 started as the Counter Terrorists and nerdRage.Pro started as the Terrorists. This time nerdRage.Pro took the half as T side 9-6. The Fish side tried to keep up on T side, winning four rounds, but the lead for nerdRage coming off of the first half sent them to take the map 16-10, taking the series 2-0 against a fish123 who had unexpectedly under-performed.
NerdRage.Pro advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced Heinz.UK, while fish123 advanced to the Loser’s Bracket to face Team XENEX.
Dragon eSports vs Team Viral – Quarter Final
Up next Dragon eSports took on Team Viral in a best of three, the maps being Cobblestone, Cache and Inferno, with only Cobblestone and Cache being played, as Team Viral took the series 2-0.
Team Viral started on the Terrorists side and picked up the half 9-6 against the Dragon eSports CT side. However, Dragon didn’t show as much competition when they played on the Terrorist side, only winning four rounds before Viral took the second game 16-10 and the series 2-0.
Team Viral then advanced to play FM-eSports.
FM eSports vs ORGLess – Quarter Final
FM-eSports were set to face ORGLess in a best of three with the maps Train, Mirage and Inferno, but due to one of ORGLess’ players not being able to join the server in time, FM-eSports advanced to face Team Viral in the semi-finals automatically.
nerdRage.Pro vs Heinz.UK – Semi Final
nerdRage.Pro took on Heinz.UK (now Reason Gaming) in the first semi-final match of the tournament. The maps vetoed were Overpass, Cache and Mirage.
Heinz started off very strong on their pick Overpass as they started off as the Terrorists against the nerdRage side who started as the Counter Terrorists. Taking a huge lead, Heinz won the first half 12-3, and nerdRage couldn’t pick up momentum on the T side, winning only the pistol round and the next 2 rounds before Heinz closed out the game with a four-round winning streak to make it 16-6.
Up next was nerdRage’s pick – Cache – and they showed a bit more fight in this match-up. This time nerdRage picked up the first half, winning 9-6 playing as the Terrorists. Moving into the second half, the nerdRage side managed to win three rounds on as the CTs, but they couldn’t stop Heinz who completely outplayed them to win 10 rounds on T side, closing out the game 16-12 and the series 2-0.
Heinz advanced to play FM-eSports in the Winner’s Bracket Final.
Team Viral vs FM-eSports – Semi Final
The maps vetoed were Dust II, Mirage and Cache, with all three maps being used in this series. FM-eSports took the series after three long matches to beat Team Viral 2-1.
The series kicked off with Dust II, with FM-eSports starting as the Terrorists and Team Viral starting as the Counter Terrorists. Viral won the first half 10-5 against a weak-looking FM eSports, heading into the second half with a five round lead. However, FM mirrored the first half score, winning 10 rounds in the half with Viral winning 5 rounds to take the game into Overtime.
The first half of Overtime ended 2-1 in FM’s favour, and FM closed it out with another two rounds on the Terrorist side. FM took the first game.
The next map was Mirage. Viral scraped the first half win, winning 8-7. Yet again, the score was mirrored, with FM winning eight rounds on their CT side, and Viral winning seven rounds on their T side. The game was sent into Overtime for the second time in the series. This time Viral won two rounds in their first half, with FM winning one, and Viral won another two in the second half to win the game, sending the series to the final map Cache.
Finally, the series moved on to Cache, the final map. FM started as the Terrorists with Viral on the Counter Terrorist side. This first half was a more of a one sided half, with FM picking up 11 rounds and Viral picking up four. Viral then showed a lot more fight on their Terrorist side, winning seven rounds, but FM won five during the half to close out the game 16-11 and the series 2-1.
FM advanced to play Heinz.UK in the Winner’s Bracket Final, whereas Team Viral played fish123 in the Loser’s Bracket Second Round.
Team XENEX vs fish123 – Loser’s Bracket First Round
Up next was Team XENEX vs fish123, playing in the first Loser’s Bracket match. The maps vetoed were Dust II, Cache and Cobblestone, but only two maps were used as fish123 won the game 2-1.
On the first map, XENEX showed fight on the T side, bringing it back to 15-8 before fish123 closed it out to win 16-8. Moving on to the second map, Cache. Team XENEX started off as the CTs again, with fish123 starting off as the Ts. This time XENEX found the first pistol round, but fish123 responded, winning their second round force buy. Fish then went to lead 8-1 before XENEX got another one back. The half ended 13-2 in favour of fish123. The game then ended 16-3 to fish123.
Fish123 advanced to play nerdRage.pro, whereas Team XENEX were eliminated from the tournament.
ORGLess vs Dragon eSports – Loser’s Bracket First Round
ORGLess took on Dragon eSports in the first round of the loser’s bracket. The maps vetoed were Mirage, Train and Cobblestone, with only Mirage and Train being used as ORGLess took the series 2-0.
The series kicked off with Mirage. ORGLess took this first map against Dragon eSports, simply outplaying them on both sides to put them ahead of the Dragon side 1-0.
Moving onto Train, and Dragon had to win this map to keep them in the tournament. Dragon started on the CT side and it didn’t start well, as they lost the first half 5-10 to ORGLess. ORGLess then closed out the game with ease, winning the pistol round and the following rounds to make it 16-5, giving them a flawless CT side to win the game.
ORGLess advanced to play nerdRage.pro.
Team Viral vs fish123 – Loser’s Bracket Second Round
Team Viral took on fish123 in the second round of the loser’s bracket. The maps vetoed were Cobblestone, Dust II and Cache. Only two maps were needed, as fish123 beat Team Viral 2-0 in what were two very close games between the two teams.
The series started off with Cobblestone. Team Viral started off on the Terrorist side where they won the first close half 8-7. However, fish123 were a lot more competitive in the second half, showing their strong T side and the fish team we all expected, where they pulled it back to win nine rounds to take the game 16-13. The next match in the series was Dust II, where Team Viral had to win to stay in the tournament.
Moving on to the second and final game of the series, Dust II. Once again fish123 showed their strength on T side to win the half 10-5. Team Viral tried to gain some momentum, winning nine rounds in total on their T side before fish123 closed out the game with six rounds on their CT side to win 16:14, and the series 2-0.
fish123 advanced to face ORGLess.
nerdRage.pro vs ORGLess – Loser’s Bracket Second Round
nerdRage.pro took on ORGLess in the second round of the loser’s bracket. The maps vetoed were Cache, Overpass and Mirage. Once again, the teams only played two maps as the series ended 2-0 to ORGLess.
The series started off with Cache, where ORGLess started on the Counter Terrorists side and won the first half at the close score of 8-7. However, ORGLess dominated the second half, whereas nerdRage.pro only managed to pick up one round on their CT side. ORGLess then won eight rounds to pick up the first game 16-8.
Overpass was next, where ORGLess started on the T side. Once again, they picked up the first half, this time they dominated the first half with 11 rounds to nerdRage’s 4. With the first half ending 11-4, nerdRage managed to pick up another four rounds, but ORGLess picked up five rounds to close out the game 16-8 and the series 2-0.
ORGLess advanced to face fish123.
That concludes our week of UK CS:GO with the ESL UK Premiership. You can see the schedule for the next set of matches here.
Reece is a sports journalist who has previously worked with the likes of BBC Radio Solent, Southern Daily Echo, Salisbury Radio, VAVEL and many more. He is currently studying a degree in Sports Journalism at Solent University.
