The first teams have been selected for the inaugural UK 1.6 EPS season.

All the hopefuls had been competing in the UK EAS for the last few months with the goal of getting one of the six automatic entry spots in the first 1.6 UK EPS league. After lots of initial scepticism the league sprung into action from the start of 2010 with lots of exciting matches taking place.

With it being a ladder system, the top spots were being tightly contested right up until the final game took place. If this is going to act as an indicator for how entertaining the league might be then I for one can't wait as upsets, unpredictable results and incredibly close games seemed to be happening every night.

The first six teams to qualify are:

Team Dignitas

Reason-Gaming

diamondZ

theimperial

vitalsigns

Afterlife Gaming

Congratulations to those six teams. Notably diamondZ managed to make it into the league despite having a member removed for cheating. That player was Vanjo "Guccie" Chan and Cadred hopes to bring you an interview with him soon. The other team who have somewhat surprisingly taken a spot are Afterlife who despite losing immune to diamondZ managed to pip Turn Up and Win to the final spot. The biggest omission is certainly Button Bashers, with ex-Team Dignitas players JungleboY and tAlz as well as the irrepressible Punt they started among the favourites for an automatic but missed out as they struggled to play the required number of games, however they have had a reprieve and now have a chance to qualify via the cup. You can see the full rankings here.

There are still six more spots up for grabs and these will be given to the teams that come through the knock out cups which will be held over the next two weeks. After getting feedback from the community the three qualifier cups will remain single elimination but will be played best of three maps. The two teams making it to the final of the cup will then gain entry into the EPS league. For further information check out the ESL post here.

Best of luck to all the remaining teams, Cadred will be bringing you coverage of the remaining qualifier cups which kick off at 8pm GMT on Monday 8th of February. We also hope to bring you extensive coverage of the first EPS UK 1.6 season.