Welcome, once again, to our continuing feature where we highlight the best teams that you might not be too familiar with, but keep one thing in mind: the teams we choose to feature are destined for greatness.
For this edition, we are highlighting Endpoint, and we start off with Ian “Immi” Harding, Team Endpoint’s exquisite captain. Immi’s roots in CS began growing as seeds back in 2005 with Counter-Strike: Source. Despite several top-eight placings, he didn’t have the monumental success that he has achieved with CS:GO. Unlike other professional stars, Immi did not play CS:GO right from its launch, because at that time, he was planning on becoming a League of Legends prodigy with two of his current teammates, Max “MiGHTYMAX” Heath and Benjamin “Esio” Doughty. His LoL career did not last long, however, as when Immi and his team attended Insomnia 53, they placed top-six, despite their best efforts. Overburdened by these disappointing results, Immi began observing the CS:GO tournament going on at Insomnia and decided that it was time for him and his team to make their fabulous comeback.
After MiGHTYMAX and Esio agreed to give CS another shot, the terrific trio ended up on a team called “Choke Gaming” along with Carl “Peggy” Kneale and Mike “Powell” Powell. Despite a promising start, the team split up after only a few months, and everyone but Peggy went on to join the British team FM Esports.
After a top-eight finish at their first LAN, Immi and the team knew changes needed to be made. They all decided that parting ways with Peggy and Powell would benefit both parties and brought on Reece “Puls3” Marss and Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel as immediate replacements.
After a third place finish at Insomnia 57, Puls3 and CRUC1AL decided the team was not performing to their full capacity and they chose to part ways, upon which Puls3 went to play on Orgles5 with Sam “rattleSNK” Gawn, Pete “pt” Wright, Daniel “RE1EASE” Mulan and Thomas “beta” Hanna, while CRUC1AL chose nerdRage as his new home.
The terrific trio of Immi, MiGHTYMAX and Esio decided they were stronger together than apart, and through thick and thin, they created their own team/organisation by the name of AlterYourEgo. Once more joined by Peggy and Tom “quiver” Griffiths, a new player, the three decided creating a dream team from the ground up would hamper their in-game performance, so they disbanded within a month. MiGHTYMAX decided to try his luck with other teammates and Immi was offered a coaching position at Orgles5 with ex-teammate Puls3.
Upon becoming Orgles5’s coach, they decided a new player was necessary, to which Immi suggested either one of his previous teammates Esio or MiGHTYMAX. They all decided that MiGHTYMAX would be the secret weapon they’d utilize to get them to the top. Despite a promising start, real life problems weighed Immi down and forced him to take a break from the team, which then folded shortly after.
Immi, MiGHTYMAX and Esio all went to Insomnia 58 on different lineups (Mix teams) where Immi’s Rize Gaming finished top-six. Despite these decent results, the trio could not resist coming together again and decided to form a new team and hence, Team Endpoint was born.
The trio was originally joined by Owen “Smooya” Butterfield and Tom “Jenko” Jenkinson. After a week and a close call at the ELEAGUE Closed Qualifier event, Jenko decided to step off the team in order to to play with friends. Meanwhile, Immi was not very fond of Smooya’s attitude towards the game and improving himself, and came to the decision of removing both players.
Despite eliminating two players, the trio was invited to WCA (World Cyber Arena) in China and were thus forced to find two temporary players. Immi decided to give the 19-year-old prodigy Jakob “Velox” Bond a chance to play on a big team, as well as Immi’s friend and companion Jamie “keita” Hall. WCA didn’t quite go as planned for the team, as they were only able to win one game against the Chinese team NEW4.
After the event, Immi decided to give Velox approximately one week to prove himself, but he did not end up making the cut. The team decided to give the spot to another young prodigy AWPer by the name of Joe “Luzuh” Loose, who Immi believes to be the top AWPer in the UK and the best young inexperienced player he has ever picked up, not only in terms of high-level performance, but also because of his amazingly positive and contagious attitude.
Despite not being able to find a suitable fifth player for UKMasters and Insomnia 59, the team once more picked up a temporary, unknown star named Jesper “Jesp” Johansson. With him on the squad, they came in second place at both events and looked onwards and upwards to the future with an unstoppable hope and immeasurable dreams.
Those dreams were soon crushed, as after the event, Jesp had other plans and made the decision to unfortunately leave the team. To replace him, Immi decided to pick up George “hudzG” Hoskins, the veteran player with the most experience out of anyone on the team.
He proved to be an immaculate choice as the team has yet to lose a game, and most recently, achieved a 7-0 finish at ESL Premiership. Immi is looking forward to what is sure to be an amazing performance at ESEA Main, ESL Premiership, UKMasters and UK Gaming Tours. “It’s a lot to be playing in,” Immi stated, “but we’re hoping to make it work.” If the past has been a look at what’s to come, they will have no trouble in the future.
The next highly qualified and highly skilled member of Team Endpoint is of course the humble enigma and support/rifler Max “MiGHTYMAX” Heath. MiGHTYMAX’s opening chapter begins back in 2005, when he first began playing Counter-Strike, an action he had no inkling on the significance it would soon hold in his life. MiGHTYMAX never saw much in the way of success during his six years with the game, mainly due to his young age and never fully understanding the game. But one long time boon came from this time: MiGHTYMAX met Esio in 2007 and has played with him ever since.
After not quite sticking to Counter-Strike, MiGHTYMAX began diversifying his skillset by picking up League of Legends in 2012, and much like his earlier time playing Counter-Strike, he had difficulties putting his head fully into it, despite attending an iSeries and finishing in the top-six. It was at this point that he was intrigued to find CS:GO was still being played competitively at a high level, and he found his passion finally ignited into a raging inferno.
Joining his first CS:GO team, MALIK, in 2014, MiGHTYMAX was yet to find the success he was seeking; that is, until he joined Choke Gaming and won his first LAN at Epic15 and second place at i55. After a string of less than favorable results, the team disbanded, pulling the carpet out from under MiGHTYMAX’s Counter-Strike career. Before long, he was contacted to join the UK Superteam Orgles5, which was a surreal experience for MiGHTYMAX, as never before did he think he would be playing with the very players he used to watch as a fan. He jumped at the chance, and while they didn’t see the team rise to the top right away, MiGHTYMAX learned more about the game than he ever did before, and picked up techniques he uses to this day to improve.
After his time with Orgles5, MiGHTYMAX looked around for a new team before finally being contacted by Adz to create a team for his new organization, Endpoint, which is now MiGHTYMAX’s most recent team, and the one he feels the strongest about. It has been a rough 10 years learning the ins and out of the esports world, but MiGHTYMAX has high hopes for what Endpoint can bring to 2017, and fully believes that he is ready to usher in a new age of esports champions.
Moving on to the newest member of Endpoint, we come to AWPer Joe “Luzuh” Loose, who has only been playing CS:GO since 2014. Don’t count him out just yet, however, as this young mastermind has quite a bit of raw untapped potential that has yet to be discovered.
In just two years after first picking up the game, Luzuh began playing the game competitively in early 2016 by simply acquiring a team of his most talented friends, and adorning themselves in the flag of PKR Hosting. While it was short lived, Luzuh and three of the PKR players, namely Ryan “Ryan” Bedford, Jan “mpm” Kopiec and Todd “Toddie” ended up joining Impulse Gaming UK.
Luzuh attended his first LAN event under the org (Insomnia 57) but placed top-16 despite the team’s best efforts. After this major failure, Luzuh moved on to act as a stand-in for Bulldog Esports for a time spanning around five months and attended Insomnia 58 under their banner. After placing top-12, it was at this LAN that Immi spotted the previously mentioned untapped talent that Luzuh possesses, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Our next warrior ready for battle, lurker Benjamin “Esio” Doughty, is as much of a grizzled veteran as Immi. He attained his first taste of Counter-Strike’s glory in the olden days of CS:S back in 2005 on his brother’s computer. Despite having such an early start, Esio didn’t get a feel for the game’s competitive side until around 2008/2009, when the discovery of the CGS (Championship Gaming Series) enticed him into trying to become the next big name in CS. In what would soon become one of the greatest instances of fate working its magic, Esio met his current teammate MiGHTYMAX in 2007 while roaming public servers looking for a challenge. Since then, the two have been the very definition of inseparable.
Despite his best and most valiant efforts, Esio did not make an impact through CS:S, as he mostly found himself scrapping with low-end teams in the UK and didn’t even manage to get himself to a LAN, either. He met Immi towards the tail end of his CS:S career and was given the opportunity to represent Immi’s team called Alter Your Ego with players who were, in Esio’s opinion, “well above my skill, which had me impressed.” However, due to personal problems, he was unable to attend the team’s first event together, which branded him at the time as a LAN dodger. Fortunately, Esio has since managed to rid himself of that title, but it was quite the feat to drop it in his CS:S days.
When the CS:GO Beta was released, Esio managed to acquire a beta key for himself, correctly assuming that the game would be the next big era of esports. After giving the game a fair shake, it just didn’t click with Esio’s expectations and ultimately led to his love of CS dwindling and leaving him searching for another game to call home. That home turned out to be League of Legends, as the game’s sheer competitive potential was something that Esio had been looking for. Together with MiGHTYMAX and Immi, the squad moved full time to League of Legends and played together as well. During that time, the trio played for a variety of well known teams, such as FM Esports, Rasta Gaming and TLR. Esio peaked at high Diamond I, with roughly around 85 LP, but never managed to push further into Challenger, despite this early success.
Even with such a long career in League, the trio never forgot their original goal of making it big in CS and thus transitioned back into the fold after viewing some professional gameplay in 2014. Due to classes being a heavy burden on Esio, he was unable to pursue that goal until mid-2015 when he rekindled his love for competitive gaming. His first event with them was at EpicFIFTEEN under Choke Gaming where they took first place. With the adrenaline from that fantastic finish, the team proceeded to take second place at Insomnia 55, losing first place to EZSKINZ. The next few months were a bit rocky and consisted of numerous third place finishes. After placing third at Season 2 of the ESL UK Premiership finals, they decided some major changes needed to be made and the roster made the transition from Choke Gaming to FM Esports, yet another marvelous UK organization.
Esio and co. attended their first event under the FM name with hopeful hearts but unfortunately finished well below their seed, placing top-eight. It was a hard event to look back at, but thankfully everything began looking up after that lowpoint. The team then picked up Puls3 (who still plays for FM) and Cruc1al (now of Splyce) and managed to get promoted to ESEA Premier after Season 21 and even put up fights against top European teams such as Team Dignitas, Gambit Gaming, and Team Kinguin.
After placing third at their first event together, the rising prodigies were unable to stick together due to other reasons and ended up going their separate ways. Esio took a short break for three months from May 2016 until August 2016 and had managed to keep in contact with Immi in the meantime about building a new team for ESEA Premier Season 23. They saw that MiGHTYMAX was also a free agent at the time and picked him up again, knowing he’d be a perfect fit given his magnificent performance in the past, effectively rebuilding the time-tried trio they had in the past into the current Team Endpoint.
The three took a chance later on by picking up Owen “Smooya” Butterfield and Tom “Jenko” Jenkinson for their team, which ended up being a roller coaster of a lineup for the short time it lasted. In spite of their rocky start, the team very nearly managed to qualify for the ELEAGUE Closed Qualifier twice, but ended up with some pretty rough differences within the team that resulted in the both of the new players departing the lineup.
From then on, the triumphant trio was forced to try a string of new players. They trialled Jakob “Velox” Bond and various others, and even had the opportunity to go to WCA China to represent the UK, where they had Jamie “keita” Hall standing in. This meant that the team wasn’t at their peak performance and ended up falling after a single, solitary win.
After the disappointing event in China, the team decided that Velox was not the right fit for them and decided to trial Joe “Luzuh” Loose, who had begun making a name for himself in the UK scene. It was crystal-clear from the get go that he was a great fit, sharing the same ambitions and drive that the rest of the team has, and signed with the team in November 2016. The players of Endpoint were still left without a fifth, so they decided to acquire the up-and-coming Swedish player Jesper “Jesp” Johannson for the remaining weeks of the season.
With him in tow, they managed to place second at Insomnia 59 (losing out to FM Esports) and second in the UK Masters Season 2 Final (losing out to FM Esports). After those events, they came to a mutual agreement with Jesp that they would not pick him up and that he did not want to carry on with them.
In January, Team Endpoint began playing with George “hudzG” Hoskins and have since been practicing to get ready for the upcoming season in ESEA Main, UK Gaming Tours, ESL UK Premiership & UK Masters.
The team’s ambitions are all similarly aligned with a simple end goal: to be the first UK team to attend a major. It’ll be a long road, but they do strongly believe that they have what it takes to rebuild and improve whatever and whenever possible.
And then there was Endpoint’s rifler George “hudzG” Hoskins, the last, but certainly not least, member of the team.
HudzG, like the rest of the team, has a very involved history in CS, dating all the way back to sometime between 2005-2008 when he started out in Source with the famed UK Team Zboard. Upon leaving Zboard, hudzG joined Reason Gaming and shortly after that, the CGS (Championship Gaming Series) franchise team London Mint. On London Mint, hudzG played with the current legendary UK caster Henry “HenryG” Greer and achieved decent results, including a second place finish at Insomnia 33 and CGS 2008 Wild Card Finals, before the team disbanded in November of 2008.
After London Mint, hudzG’s unquenchable flames of passion for CS subsided to a lone spark and he took a break from the game until 2012. Since then, he has played on a number of well-known, prestigious teams like the German mTw, ESC Gaming, as well as the British FM Esports, EZSkins and even had a short bout with Team Dignitas before ending up on Team Endpoint in late December of last year.
HudzG loves his current teammates and believes that their untapped potential is limitless. Together, he believes they will form the best team in the UK, and hopefully, in the world.
And there you have it; a look into the fast rising Team Endpoint. I hope that you now have a solid handle on the team and the players who call Endpoint home. To keep in touch with everything they do, make sure to follow them on Twitter.
If you are a part of an esports team, or know of an esports team you would like to be considered for a future featured profile, please let me know in the comments or via Twitter, where you can find me @penguirony01.
What do you think of this team? Let us know in the comments below or @GAMURScom.
Published: Jan 22, 2017 03:13 pm