Another weekend, another LAN and it is right that I’m hoping for better things from this one than the last – the UKeSA finals. Being generous that wouldn’t be too hard, but the fact is that anyone who has been to an ESL ran event knows that they put on a great show.

You arrive into a great looking venue, areas clearly labelled, admins dressed in NFL style referee shirts and a variety of cinematic music pumping out of public address system. It is a small, but perfectly formed, event and it is the kind that is sorely lacking on the UK calendar. So for all the minor criticisms that get thrown the way of the event... The fact that the finals are made up predominantly of mix teams, the uncertainty over when the prize money will manifest, you know the drill... They are still contributing something vitally important and let us all hope that it may continue.



As always my journey down was the usual trudge through the murky waters of so called decent society, the only high point being my single serving friend on the coach journey. He was a man called Yemi, from Lagos, who had made a lot of money from selling mobile phones. His gimmick was that no matter where you are in the world he could get you a gift wrapped mobile for any occasion. I suggested that he should maybe come to the event I was attending and see if he could drum up some trade, but he played down the offer with a gold toothed smile.

So to matters Source and let’s look at the major stories that may or may not unfold. Crack Clan’s last event before they throw in the towel in regards to Source? Can they shake the tag of “second prize" that has inexplicably dogged them since their genesis? Fragmasters Toxic have absolutely had the eyes out of the ESL entering a team that has a single member from their current roster. Yet, if truth be told, that has actually led to a stronger roster than the one they would have brought had they stuck with the one they started the competition with... Can “on the fly” strats win on the day? It’s not as if they’ll be the only team that will be using them here. And can Dignitas, the former flagship team of the UK, get back to winning ways with their new look roster? Not technically a question that can be answered here given that they have a COD4 player in the form of Chris “Blackmane” Kinnair in their starting five... However, and it pains me to type this, he actually is better at Source than some of the other players in attendance for other teams.

To boot, we even have a bizarre comeback story waiting in the wings to play out. Nathaniel “tiLs” Tilsley makes a return to the competitive LAN scene after a prolonged spell out of the game. Will his return be triumphant or an epic fail? He can expect a swathe of banter from his colleagues regardless... First mistake he makes will be met with calls of “You still got it” much like old man ben0 used to get before his exile to Africa.



So indeed, there’s lots happening just within the source microcosm and there’s obviously going to be indicators of who will be the movers and shakers come the bigger European LANs of OOF and TEX and then the i-series, at which point the scene will reset itself and nothing will be the same, much like the time Henry “HenryG” Greer decided to break the entire UK scene. Lot’s to contemplate then as I’m sat in Mcdonalds next to Scottish derelicts who have come in here for somewhere to sleep for the price of a coffee.

Here in the heart of London the sun is beating down outside and the women are out in force. A wild weekend in London would beckon at any other time, but there is business to attend to. I need to get to the press room and start the laborious process of typing the 10,000 – 15,000 words that are likely to be required to cover it all for those of you who can’t be here. I check my phone and see a text from Duck that reads “Midget wrestlers killed by fake hookers... Is this possibly the best headline ever?” and it’s a good question. That’s a story we’d all like to tell, but for now the EPS UK Finals will have to do. You can read about all the action and the major stories as they unfold right here on Cadred.