Epsilon Esports shocked the Call of Duty world by defeating Splyce in two best-of-five series to take home the title at this weekend’s CoD World League Birmingham Open. The roster of Joshua-Lee “Joshh” Shephard, David “Dqvee” Davies, Billy “Hawqeh” Harries, and Stephen “Vortex” Allen came through the losers bracket to defeat Splyce, a team that many experts consider to be the best in Europe.
Splyce–Ben “Bance” Bance, Jordan “Jurd” Crowley, Dylan “MadCat” Daly, Trei “Zer0” Morris– dominated the early portion of this EU-only tournament, not dropping a single map until the winners bracket finals. Epsilon also played well to begin the weekend, going 3-0 in pool play and only losing three maps prior to the winners bracket finals.
Splyce ran through Fnatic and Elevate, while Epsilon took down iGame and Red Reserve to guarantee a top-three finish in Birmingham.
These two teams met in a back-and-forth winners bracket finals, but Splyce emerged victorious 3-2, knocking Epsilon down into the losers bracket.
After their first-round loss to Splyce, Fnatic made a remarkable run through the losers bracket, taking down Red Reserve and Millenium before facing off against Epsilon in the losers bracket finals. Epsilon made quick work of Fnatic, defeating them 3-0 to advance to the grand finals for a shot at redemption against Splyce.
Epsilon earned a quick 3-0 in the first grand finals series, and most Call of Duty spectators were stunned. Most were expecting Splyce to bounce back in the second grand finals series, but Epsilon won 3-0 once again.
After winning the CWL Birmingham championship and $20,000, Epsilon has now established itself as a serious contender. They were the only team to defeat Splyce in a map this weekend, let alone a series; their map count against the kings of Europe was an astonishing 8-3.
Epsilon will try to ride the momentum from their recent success when they travel across the pond for the CWL Global Pro League in Columbus, Ohio from May 5 to 7. Splyce, on the other hand, has a quick turnaround, since they will play in the first week of the CWL Global Pro League on April 21 to 23.
