The LAN at the end of the world

With the WePlay Academy League behind us, there’s not much left to do for the players signed to big organisations’ academy teams.

They get the odd open and closed qualifier, sure. Some of them might even be promoted one day, though it’s harder to build up a CV in a world with WePlay.

But other than that, these young guns are basically just sitting at home and twiddling their thumbs.

That was, until Mist Games announced Heroes of Lofoten: an $8K LAN hosted in the Lofoten Islands.

For those unfamiliar, this Norwegian archipelago is ridiculously far north. Like, more north than Iceland north.

It’s the type of place you’d build a nuclear submarine base, not host a CS:GO LAN.

This is where we’d normally make a joke about Astralis (Talent) sending Xyp9x to the end of the world just after he was benched.

But honestly? We’re kind of jealous.

The commercial break drone shots were as good as the games. Just look at where they’re playing.

Speaking of, it was the Danes of MASONIC who ran the gauntlet, 2-0ing MOUZ NXT, Astralis Talent, and then 00NATION’s ‘Prospects’ in the grand final to take the trophy home.

It was a great event, a real breath of fresh air in a circuit that used to have pit stops all around the globe and now spends 10 weeks a year in Malta.

Even if it’s ‘just for academy teams,’ we’re glad events like this exist. We just wish there were more.

Final standings:

1. 🇩🇰 MASONIC ($5.500)

2. 🇸🇪 PROSPECTS ($2500)

3-4. 🇩🇰 Astralis Talent

3-4. 🇫🇮 ENCE Academy

5-6. 🇪🇺 MOUZ NXT

5-6. 🇸🇪 Young Ninjas