While one set of people embark to camp in wet fields and listen to live music another do the same but for more abstract reasons. Briefly at the train station the two groups collide, a sea of middle class masquerading as something else, presuming they are headed to the same spot, only to diverge in secret at the last minute.

It’s another i-series, this weary LAN-head having to dig deep and fight through another four days of bad weather, bad food, no sleep and most importantly of all e-drama. Along for the ride is the up and comer, the future of e-sports writing and my natural successor when I invariably keel over and die. My young colleague and myself will be poised in the perfect position to survey the whole saga, the press box right above the finishing line of the race course.

Fitting too, as countless overweight, red faced alcoholics have hunched over their budget netbooks furiously fingering their keyboards in a bid to be the first past the post with the information, then hit the bar for a slug of bargain scotch before a mild heart attack rounds off the day. Not far, I imagine, is that rotten room where they shoot the horses that fall at the last fence, before sawing off their legs so they get them out of the building discreetly. Make no mistake, this is the place and we are here.

The big stories lurking under the surface are all clouded by one – just what has become of UK CS:S. When even the top “teams” are little more than glorified mixes what is there to say about a team sport that has become so individualistic in its outlook? Over an all day fry-up in Weatherspoons the immortal lines were uttered in the background by competitors. “I’ll probably quit after this event… Unless I get a good sponsorship offer. Need to play well so I can get out this team.”

Yet to go where? To another rag tag collection of hasbeens, wannabes and neverweres? Good luck with that. It is alarmingly dull and it is a hustle that never ends. Everyone here harbouring crazed delusions and a backwards notion of progress. The meek really did inherit the Earth on that one… Tell me the community sides that are here for fun aren’t further ahead of the curve than the same names desperately rolling the dice until the right numbers come up, which they never do. The house always wins on this one, even if it has no foundations.

The finish line is so close yet so far

Still, that’s the UK and there’s a little bit of positivity to the proceedings in the form of the Europeans in attendance thanks to the Thermaltake Cup. VeryGames can’t possibly lose this tournament, be sure of that, but would you bet against the top three all being European? I’m a gambling man and I’m not sure which way to swing on it. Ox Gaming are likely to show their mettle against teams comprised of players that label them onliners despite the fact that at Copenhagen Games they were up to the standard that their 5th / 6th finish suggests they were. Exelon… Well you never know with the Finnish. I didn’t expect CKRAS to do much at DSRack and they tore it up, only to stumble at Assembly Summer. The only UK team I see making a dent is the Demonic mix team comprised of returning ENC heroes HenryG and hudzG.

It already feels like a step towards a bigger and better i-series. The last time I remember more Europeans than this here was probably i34, which is often lauded as the peak of the i-series (i30’s pretty hard to beat but why split hairs?), so for the first time in ages it feels like it could throw in a few curve balls. Of course, in I-series tradition now, you can call the winner a mile off. If VeryGames decide to attend the next two, they could probably join the ranks of hat-trick heroes such as Birmingham Salvo and Reason Gaming.

We’ll be here bringing you all the stories from all levels of the game. We’ll also be introducing something called “noobwatch” – a series of reports of those awful, awkward and atrocious moments you often see in the group stages. Humiliation is never far away at a LAN – just ask that guy who shat himself in the middle of a game after one greasy burger too many got the better of him – and we think it’s only fair that it’s spotlighted. It’ll save you guys the trouble of creating fake accounts and raiding the forums to let us know at least.

So even though we are sat up here staring at the finish line, there’s a long way to go yet. Make sure you keep up with us as we bring you the dizzy highs, the brutal lows and an interview with PEZ and Samitsky. Probably.